{"id":18750,"date":"2026-04-25T00:35:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T00:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/18750\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T00:35:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T00:35:03","slug":"montreals-churches-are-being-reborn-as-libraries-gyms-concert-halls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/18750\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal\u2019s churches are being reborn as libraries, gyms, concert halls"},"content":{"rendered":"

A definitive examination<\/a> of the repurposing of Montreal\u2019s churches concluded that more than 240 had been sold since 1900. About 4 in 10 reopened to other denominations; of the others, about half were destroyed, and the remainder found new earthly uses.<\/p>\n

As first-time visitors to Canada\u2019s second-largest city, my wife, Mica, and I set out to explore nearly 20 churches \u2014 stalwarts and converts both \u2014 over a four-day weekend last fall. <\/p>\n

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In one ear reverberated whispers from residents that \u201cwe don\u2019t believe in God anymore,\u201d and \u201cwe are no longer Catholic.\u201d In the other, church bells sounded regular reminders of time and timelessness.<\/p>\n

Heeding their insistence, we turned our steps inside. We found an organist swaying, smelled incense drifting behind a marching cross, broke bread where priests once slept, and sat in a concert-hall pew that will never witness another sermon.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe kitchen at Candide restaurant.
\nAlex Pulaski<\/p>\n

Preserving the past in new form<\/p>\n

Montreal was founded as a Catholic missionary outpost in 1642, and by the 20th century welcomed nearly 600 churches of various denominations, mostly Catholic. But the recent math is daunting: In 1950, about three-quarters of the city\u2019s residents were Catholic. Today, about one-third are. <\/p>\n

Urban renewal projects in the 1970s resulted in the destruction of several church buildings. But a backlash ignited historical preservation efforts.<\/p>\n

Over a decade ago, as architects wrestled with how to cram 3 million square feet of hospital into two square Montreal blocks, they had to weigh preserving or demolishing a historic church on the site. <\/p>\n

Their solution: dismantling the 1865 Holy Trinity Church\u2019s steeple, and reassembling it block by block. When the university hospital known as CHUM opened in 2017, there on a corner near an entrance stood the historic steeple, an anachronistic orphan leaning against the modern hospital\u2019s fa\u00e7ade.<\/p>\n

\"BourgieBourgie Hall, a concert hall reborn from an 1890s church\u2019s nave, features Tiffany stained-glass windows.Alex Pulaski<\/p>\n

Similarly, just a short walk away, the bell tower and transept of the Saint-Jacques Church, completed in 1860, were blended into designs for a brick university pavilion constructed in 1979.<\/p>\n

But these marriages of century-old buildings with new construction have proven more the exception than the rule. More typically, surviving church buildings have been repurposed for entirely new uses. A few examples:<\/p>\n

Espace Tomas<\/a> is a fitness club, converted from a Dominican church in 2012. Now it\u2019s dedicated to the temple of the body, with punching bags, weight rooms, saunas, and outdoor therapy pools \u2014 including a view of the rusting steeple. \u201cThe only sin here,\u201d their website proclaims, \u201cis a skipped workout.\u201dBourgie Hall,<\/a> remade in 2011 from the nave of the 1890s-era Erskine and American Church, lives on as a concert hall. The building\u2019s stunning stained-glass windows, including 20 attributed to Tiffany Studios, were salvaged from a Presbyterian church demolished in the 1930s. Hearing a piano concert while gazing at the windows\u2019 angelic faces feels simply heavenly.The Mordecai-Richler Library<\/a> opened in 1993 in what had been the Church of the Ascension. The bright white interior, lined with rows of books, remains accented by the church\u2019s colorful stained-glass windows.The Salon Richmond 1861<\/a> event space, with its gleaming wood floors and painted ceiling, was remade from an abandoned church. A bustling farm-to-table restaurant, Candide,<\/a> is gaining acolytes in what used to be the church\u2019s rectory. <\/p>\n

Danielle Bitton founded the production company renting the salon space and partnered in opening the restaurant in 2015. The building\u2019s owner, a friend, had wanted to convert the church into condos. But the city balked.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had tears in her eyes, and she said, \u2018I\u2019m going to lose the building,\u201d Bitton recalls. \u201cI told her that in Europe they had had success in converting churches in a respectful way \u2014 so that\u2019s what we did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ended up calling this project, in French, \u2018How to bring people back to church.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Other churches have remained open but engaged in projects that supplement income or attract visitors for reasons other than worship. For example, the Aura Experience<\/a> fills the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal with a light and sound spectacle during evening shows.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Church of the Ascension in Montreal was converted into the Mordecai-Richler Library in 1993.
\nAlex Pulaski<\/p>\n

Or at Le Balcon,<\/a> a cabaret dinner theater tucked into a space at St. James United Church, a dinner of vegetable soup and duck confit preceded a band\u2019s opening rendition of \u201cHallelujah,\u201d the anthem written by Montreal\u2019s native son, Leonard Cohen. Quickly thereafter, the tempo and volume rose, disco lights flared, and band members veered hard into \u201cDisco Inferno.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBurn, baby, burn,\u201d they urged us, their words echoing off the dance floor and into the sanctuary.<\/p>\n

Lingering in the shadow of skyscrapers<\/p>\n

Amid all these conversions, there remain standing dozens of Montreal churches \u2014 large and small. Some are superlative, others simple. Even the largest ones seem to huddle in the shadows of the steel-and-glass skyscrapers.<\/p>\n

From our 26th-floor view room at the modern Montreal Marriott Chateau Champlain,<\/a> the enormous green copper dome of the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral<\/a> still commands the eye. One of Montreal\u2019s best-loved churches, it is less than 150 years old and was patterned after Rome\u2019s St. Peter\u2019s Basilica. It is stunningly ornate.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the plain gray exterior of St. Patrick\u2019s Basilica<\/a> only hints at what awaits inside. It was constructed in just four years in the 1840s amid a typhus epidemic that killed thousands of new Irish immigrants. The basilica\u2019s white oak beams are plastered and painted to mimic marble; the tall stained-glass windows are awe-inspiring.<\/p>\n

Without question, the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal<\/a>, dominating the Place d\u2019Armes square in Old Montreal, has served as the city\u2019s beating religious heart since the 19th century. It draws more than 1 million visitors annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge for the Church is real,\u201d local guide Marie-Hell\u00e8ne Lemay of MTL Detours<\/a> told us. \u201cHow do you keep up a sanctuary for pilgrims, welcome thousands of visitors, and still keep it a church?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Espace Tomas fitness club is in a converted church.
\nAlex Pulaski<\/p>\n

Patterned after the vibrant and gilded Saint-Chapelle in Paris, the basilica\u2019s magnificent interior took a half-century to complete. Religious history marches on in the stained-glass windows ringing the lower level, and the altarpiece includes Old Testament lessons and Jesus crowning Mary as heaven\u2019s queen. The organ numbers nearly 7,000 individual pipes.<\/p>\n

Pilgrims and visitors also regularly stream to St. Joseph\u2019s Oratory<\/a>, completed in 1967. I found the massive interior\u2019s concrete finish cold, but the tiny Votive Chapel, where discarded crutches crowd the altar, tells a warmer tale.<\/p>\n

Though the basilica is dedicated to a saint from two millennia removed, it is as much associated with the faith and works of another, since decreed a saint. Brother Andr\u00e9 Bessette, a frail orphan in his youth, spent his life ministering to the afflicted. He is renowned for helping the lame walk by rubbing them with lamp oil, but steadfastly credited prayers to Saint Joseph for the cures.<\/p>\n

Another remarkable individual, Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys was a French missionary and teacher who founded the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel<\/a>. It is much smaller than the city\u2019s enormous cathedral, also dedicated to Mary. It is also Montreal\u2019s oldest chapel, rebuilt in 1771-73 after the original burned down. Known as \u201cthe sailors\u2019 church,\u201d it holds a mesmerizing presence, inside and out. <\/p>\n

On the exterior, a statue of Mary, arms extended toward the harbor, welcomes sailors returning to port. On the inside, miniature votive vessels carry candles signifying a sailor\u2019s prayer for safe passage.<\/p>\n

Just to the left of the altar rests Saint Marguerite\u2019s tomb. Before it, in a Plexiglas box, petitioners deposit their prayers, penciled onto 3-by-3-inch notecards. One, written in a child\u2019s hand, begins: \u201cDear God, keep my parents safe, please.\u201d Hundreds more, folded and packed, sail petitions heavenward as expectantly as the small votive boats hanging from the ceiling.<\/p>\n

After absorbing these demonstrations of faith amid so many city monuments dedicated to the Almighty\u2019s glory, I wondered what Twain would make of them today. Perhaps, as he once described rumors of his own demise, he might say that reports of God\u2019s death had been exaggerated.<\/p>\n

Or maybe, accounting for how many churches have carried on or been reborn in new guises, he might conclude \u2014 as I did \u2014 that Montreal is witnessing a resurrection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A definitive examination of the repurposing of Montreal\u2019s churches concluded that more than 240 had been sold since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[17,9493,9495,50,9494,9496,241,237],"class_list":["post-18750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-canada","tag-festivals","tag-luminotherapie","tag-montreal","tag-montreal-en-lumiere","tag-nuit-blanche","tag-quebec","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}