South direction
The Wellington tunnel

The Wellington tunnel

The Wellington tunnel

Abandoned tunnel under the Lachine canal

Montréal (Quebec), Canada

Abandoned, barricaded and destroyed at the south entry of the Lachine Canal, the tunnel Wellington currently offers lack of interest for urban exploration (can't go inside).

Back in 1990, it permanently ceases its activities with the official opening of the Wellington bridge located next to the deceased tunnel. Built in the 1930s to give work, among other things, to the thousands of unemployed montrealers, problems came very quickly about this tunnel. With separate lanes for trams, cars and pedestrians, the tunnel has saturated quickly. Considering the expensive costs for expansion or renovation, city planners in Montreal are quickly came to the conclusion that a new bridge would be more useful.

Archives of Montreal - Construction of tunnels in the 1930s

With the interest of entrepreneurs for this area, called Griffintown, many of these abandoned places or in poor condition have been, or will be sacrificed in the name of progress. Will rise on their ruins new condominium towers and other modern buildings. This former working-class district will soon have only his name as memory.

Thus, the former Horse Palace stables will have to find a new home, and it doesn't matter if it is 150-year history in Griffintown. Ditto for many other buildings that the city has agreed to sacrifice. This includes, as you probably suspect, the Wellington tunnel.

Devimco, the company who has a stranglehold on this 1.1 million square feet territory, has agreed to maintain only 20 buildings for which it was judged that their heritage value was large enough to be spared demolition cranes .

Related content

Shannon Park
Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada)

Built in 1949 on the shores of the Bedford Basin in Halifax, Shannon Park is a former site of the Department of National Defence (DND) that stretches on over 96.5 acres (38.8 hectares). While the site was gradually abandoned at the turn of 2000,...

The abandoned boys institute
Cecil County, Maryland (United States)

Located at the north of Baltimore, this Beaux-Arts influenced Gregorian Revival style by N.Y. architects Boring and Tilton buildings was one of the oldest school of Maryland before its closure in the 90s. The 330 acre campus is constituted of...

The Gray Rocks abandoned hotel - Photo by Pierre Bourgault
Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (Canada)

Let's be honest, against the millions of dollars in investments made at Mont-Tremblant Resort located only a few kilometers away, Gray Rocks Hotel was doomed to a certain death. The infrastructure of the aging 103 years old hotel coupled with...

The Mascouche seigniorial mansion - Photos by Pierre Bourgault
Mascouche, Quebec (Canada)

Jewel of Quebec's heritage, the seigniorial manor was built in 1795. Expanded several times over the years, it was used for several purposes. From 1967 to 2000 it was used as a high school and later, Quebec police organization “Sûreté du Québec”...