If when we think of Montreal, we often think of the big modernist towers of downtown or the little brick houses – with metal staircases that become toboggans when there’s ice – on the streets of the Plateau, the city’s cool new districts are also brand-new neighborhoods.
It may not seem so charming at first glance, but the residential buildings have rooftop swimming pools and the half-old, half-new architecture has a charm all its own that calls for a kind of creative patchwork spirit …
Griffintown, the “Griff
Griffintown is a former working-class neighborhood in southwest Montreal, on the banks of the Lachine Canal and bounded by the Bonaventure Expressway and Notre-Dame Street. The district shares its borders with Little Burgundy and Cité du Multimédia.
In the 19th century, Griffintown was a neighborhood largely inhabited by Irish immigrants, who worked on the Victoria Bridge, the Lachine Canal, the railroads and the Port of Montreal.
The name, Griffintown, is derived from the name of Mary Griffin, who illegally obtained the lease for the neighborhood from an associate of Thomas McCord in 1799. It was she who commissioned the neighborhood plan in 1804.
The McCord Stewart Museum now offers a historicUrban Tour of the neighborhood, which we recommend for history nerds . . . find out more here!
By the 1940s, the neighborhood’s inhabitants were diverse; in addition to the Irish, there were Jewish, Italian, Ukrainian and French-speaking communities. The neighborhood became overcrowded, increasingly ramshackle and, after a while, rather unsanitary. Griffintown became a semi-industrial zone in the 1960s.
After the Second World War, the neighborhood was depopulated, and it was only some fifteen years ago that the City of Montreal transformed it into a residential district.
The best of Griffintown
Today, Griffintown is clean, under constant construction, vegan and farm-to-table, made of glass and metal, but you can still see accents of its past, in time-burnished red stone.
And for photographers and influencers, one of the best views of the FARINE FIVE ROSES red sign is from the corner of rue Wellington and rue Peel…
Restaurants and cafés
Griffintown is a neighborhood where you live – with your dog and your lover – and a neighborhood where you work. We’re cool but busy, and the takeaway coffee is exceptional. We love…
Bodega, at 248 rue de la Montagne
Mano Figa, 988 Ottawa Street
La Bête à Pain, 195 rue Young
For some of the city’s best Indian, we go to India Rosa, at 1050 Wellington Street.
For brunch with friends, go to Maman (which has a terrace), at 1542 Notre-Dame Street West.
For Italian food, we go to Mano Cornutto, at 988 Ottawa Street, which also has a terrace overlooking a wave-shaped parking lot that, when flooded with sunlight, reflects the light back to us just like at the beach.
For microbrewery beers, we go to Brasseur de Montréal, at 1485 Ottawa Street.
Shopping
Griffintown is the district under construction, and the shopping you’ll find here includes decor, architecture, beauty…
For furniture, or just to look around, we go to EQ3, at 1155 rue Wellington.
…and then West Elm, 100-995 rue Wellington.
For the best-presented flowers in town, we go to Prune, 1155 Wellington (same building as EQ3).
For natural oils, beef tallow for soft skin, eco-biological detergent and incense (to breathe luxury into our 3 1/2), we go to Allons Vert, at 319 rue de la Montagne.
And above all, we’ll be strolling along the banks of the Lachine Canal, towards the Atwater Market or the Old Port…
Enjoy your stroll through Griffintown!