Habitat 67 was built for the world’s fair and celebration of Canada’s 100th birthday known as Expo 67.Berkshire Hathway Home Services Quebec
2600 Av. Pierre-Dupuy, Unit 226, Montreal
Asking Price: $998,000
Monthly Maintenance fee (including taxes): $2,332 (2024)
Agent: Karen Karpman, Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Quebec
The backstory
Moshe Safdie was a student of architecture at McGill University in Montreal when his vision for a utopian style of urban living began with a simple idea: for everyone a garden.
The concept would become the title of the celebrated architect’s second book, but long before that, his undergraduate thesis of the early 1960s laid out a plan for modern communities that allowed city dwellers to live in proximity to nature while keeping urban sprawl in check.
Habitat 67 was built for the world’s fair and celebration of Canada’s 100th birthday known as Expo 67.
The striking complex of stacked, pre-fabricated units set on a peninsula between the St. Lawrence River and downtown Montreal garnered international recognition.
“It certainly was the most famous and influential apartment in the world for a long time,” says Rochelle Lash, a life-long Montrealer and owner of unit 226.
During his six-decade career, Mr. Safdie would continue seeking innovative ways to combine nature and human intervention at such acclaimed projects as the Marina Bay Sands resort and Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore.
In Canada, Safdie Architects’ landmark buildings include the National Gallery in Ottawa and Library Square in Vancouver.
Following Expo, the government-funded Habitat 67 provided rental apartments to Montreal residents.
By the time Ms. Lash arrived a few decades later, the ownership structure had been changed to a co-operative.
Mr. Safdie’s based his practice in the United States, but he kept a pied-a-terre in Habitat 67 until 2022, when he donated his four-cube penthouse – along with his professional archive – to McGill.
The unit today
For Ms. Lash, the wraparound windows with views toward the Montreal skyline caught her eye the first time she stepped into the two-storey apartment.
Two cubes stacked together provide 1,488 square feet of living space, with lounging, cooking and dining taking place on the first level. There’s also a home office tucked into an alcove and a powder room.
Upstairs are two bedrooms and a large bathroom.
Each level has a private outdoor terrace.
One of the innovated aspects of the design is that there are no interior corridors: each unit has a front door opening to the outside.
The concrete cubes are staggered in such a way that each space feels very private, Ms. Lash says, because the units share only one common wall.
With an exterior wall on three sides, Ms. Lash says, the cube creates a tranquil environment.
“In winter it is particularly beautiful with snow falling.”
After living in the unit for several years, Ms. Lash decided to make some changes.
She enclosed part of the lower terrace to create a curved glass solarium with heated floors.
The added indoor space allowed her to host larger dinners at the dining table. There’s also a sitting area.
The large upstairs bathroom had a futuristic molded fibreglass form for the bath and shower. Ms. Lash kept the original layout but had the shell removed and replaced with a soaker tub, white ceramic tile and glass-enclosed shower.
She replaced the original double-sink vanity with a new one of the same size and installed a heated stone floor.
“I wouldn’t have dared to improve on his design,” she says.
Mr. Safdie created livable spaces with plenty of room for stashing items like golf clubs, skis, bicycles and snow tires, Ms. Lash says, and she added additional space by reconfiguring some of the closets.
“People are really amazed at the generous amount of storage.”
Habitat 67 was awarded heritage protection by the province in 2009. Any alterations to the exterior must be approved but homeowners can choose their own décor inside.
“I’m a very, very passionate Montrealer,” says Ms. Lash. “I’m very, very proud that it is a heritage building and its known all over the world.”
The unit has 1,488 square feet of living space, with lounging, cooking and dining taking place on the first level.Berkshire Hathway Home Services Quebec
Ms. Lash explains that Habitat 67 was once considered remote at a distance of three kilometres from the city centre and Old Montreal. Now public transportation whisks residents downtown.
The Sud-Ouest, or south-west, portion of the city, has also seen plenty of rejuvenation over the past few decades, Ms. Lash says.
Griffintown is a former industrial hub that has undergone rapid urban renewal alongside the Lachine Canal. Converted warehouses and new condo towers have brought new inhabitants and Rue Notre Dame-Ouest is lined with restaurants.
The long-standing Atwater Market is not far from Habitat 67, and the more recently-developed Nuns’ Island has shops, banks, liquor stores and hair salons amidst the condo buildings.
Ms. Lash often rides her bike along the riverside paths between Ile St. Helene and Nuns’ Island, stopping off to spend some time on the water on a stand-up paddleboard.
“I can do a little biathlon,” she says with a laugh.
In winter, she can cross-country ski straight from the building.
“I just put on my skis and go out the door.”
For a fee, residents can play tennis on the building’s clay courts. The social committee arranges yoga classes, and in summer, there are outdoor movie nights on the plaza.
The best feature
The lower terrace provides a place to barbeque year-round, and the complex is set amid landscaped grounds and fountains.Berkshire Hathway Home Services Quebec
The outdoor terraces provide the gardens that Mr. Safdie envisaged in his original scheme, Ms. Lash says, adding that she grows geraniums, tomatoes and basil in hers.
The lower terrace provides a place to barbeque year-round, and the complex is set amidst landscaped grounds and fountains.
“Outside I’m surrounded by birdsong and trees,” she says.
The architect believed that providing urbanites with green space would rein in the quest for a backyard in the suburbs.
Ms. Lash notes that such ideas have come to the forefront of urban planning once again.
“He was absolutely ahead of his time.