Save The Griffintown Horse Palace

SAVE THE GRIFFINTOWN HORSE PALACE!

Petition
Calling on the Administration of the City of Montreal
to recommend that the Griffintown Horse Palace be cited as a historical monument according to la Loi sur les biens culturels (Cultural Property Act).

Considering that the complex which makes up the celebrated Griffintown Horse Palace at 1220-1226 Ottawa Street, which includes a house and stables, a barn, an old inn, and other buildings, all grouped around a courtyard, dates from 1862 and is a uniquely intact vestige of the industrial and commercial use of the horse in the 19th and 20th century;

Considering that this unique and historic site boasts one of the last, or perhaps even the only, functioning stables of its architectural type in North America;

Considering that the complex still houses ponies, horses, and carriages used for transporting tourists in Old Montreal, and that these horses must be able to maintain a shelter near Old Montreal;

Considering that this complex, which once served as a shelter to passengers and their horses and to working horses used by the industries along the Lachine Canal, is a site of great cultural and historical heritage for Montreal and Canada;

Considering that Patri-Arch, the consulting firm in architecture and heritage, recently recommended that the City of Montreal consider the relevance of mentioning the Griffintown Horse Palace as a historical monument in accordance with la Loi sur les biens culturels , and that the Heritage Council (Conseil du patrimoine) reiterated this recommendation;

We, the undersigned, call upon the city of Montreal to recommend that the Griffintown Horse Palace be cited as a historical monument according to the la Loi sur les biens culturels (Cultural Property Act), and we demand that the entire ensemble of buildings, including the house, the inn, stables, other buildings and the court should be preserved as a functional enterprise with horses and carriages, as it has been for 150 years.