A condo in the Old Port allows a family to live in a vibrant, festive neighbourhood
BY SUSAN SEMENAK
PHOTOGRAPHY: YVES LEFEBVRE
STYLING: DENISE PALISAITIS
On summer evenings, leisurely dinners on the terrasse often end with a fireworks extravaganza. In winter, when all is cold and quiet and the beach under the Clock Tower is blanketed in snow, the ripples in the icy waters of the St. Lawrence River sparkle like diamonds.
The spectacular views from Yves Charbonneau’s windows change with the seasons. He and his wife, Monique Renaud, and their two daughters have still to decide which they like best. “In all seasons and all weather and at different times of the day, it is always extraordinarily beautiful,” Yves says. “During the day, there is all the activity in Old Montreal, but then at night when it is dark and all is lit up, the mood shifts.”
The family’s condo in the Old Port boasts one of the city’s most scenic views.
The imposing nine-storey building, was a warehouse that had been abandoned for nearly two decades when Yves first saw it in 1999. “It was an empty building that had yet to be developed. There was nothing but cement walls,” he recalls of the condominium complex that now houses 207 luxury units.
But what a location. The only building right on the riverfront in a secluded part of Old Montreal boasts a southward view toward leafy Île Ste. Hélène and the Montreal Casino. To the east is La Ronde and beyond that, the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Lounging on the sofa, Yves looks out his living room windows and there is the Clock Tower, one of Montreal’s most beloved landmarks.
Because the 1920s building is a protected heritage site, the developer was required to rebuild and restore its original Italianate façade, with its rows of arched windows. Inside though, a contemporary industrial style embraces the building’s concrete structure and maritime history.
Yves, a lifelong Montrealer, wanted the decor inside his condo unit to embrace the spirit of the Old Port. Models of sailboats and fishing schooners sit on the window sills, echoes of the boats moored in the marina below.
The walls of the condo are lined with the couple’s extensive collection of Cirque du Soleil masks, each from a different show. Enthusiastic Cirque fans who have seen just about every show, they have been collecting the handmade circus masks for more than a decade. Now they hang just steps away from the blue-and-yellow-striped tent that takes over Jacques Cartier Quay every two years as Cirque du Soleil’s summer quarters.
Another bit of theatre greets guests upon arrival and the couple’s condo. As they come through the front door, visitors find themselves on a landing with a 12-foot-wide blonde-wood staircase that descends into the sunken living room.
Yves says he looked to the spectacular views through the 17-foot-high windows for inspiration when he set about designing the condo’s interiors, initially with a little help from an interior designer. With a 40-foot-wide wall of windows looking out onto the Old Port, it was obvious what the focal point would be.
Throughout the home, the homeowners kept the furniture, including the cream-coloured linen-upholstered sectional sofa imported from Italy, to a pale palette, using accents of blue and green reminiscent of the tones of the St. Lawrence River and its tree-lined island shores. The woolen throws and rug in the living room are a mossy green colour. And in the master bathroom, the walls of a large glassed-in shower are lined with watery-blue tiles.
Both bedrooms – one on the main floor and another on a mezzanine – have glass interior walls to admit light from all sides. But there are drapes to close for privacy.
In the darker northern corners of the unit, the couple hung full-length mirrors on each of the doors. “When we open them, suddenly there will be a view of the water,” says Yves. “It makes us feel as though we are living on a boat. All around us there is water, or so it seems.”
During the summer, the couple entertains often, especially during the Montreal International Fireworks Competition, when they and their guests gather on the large terrasse off the kitchen to dine and view the show. The comings and goings in Old Montreal during the busy summer season sometimes seem like a festival staged just for them, Yves says. He watches the Grand Prix races on television and hears the real-life roar from nearby Île Notre Dame in the background. When it’s cocktail hour under the aqua-blue parasols at the Plage de l’Horloge, Montreal’s hip new urban beach, the Charbonneau-Renauds are sipping their own aperos on their terrasse two storeys above.
