It's over 92 years of industrial history that ended in 2004 when the Spexel factory was closed down. The story of this plant start in 1912 when is built the paper mill, which took the name of Howard Smith Paper Mill. Over the following years, the...
The plant itself is definitively not as great at we saw in other places. Located in the heart of Pointe-Saint-Charles neighborhood of Montreal, this two storey building has no longer the cachet of its heyday. While neighboring buildings are gradually revamped to accommodate them new condo owners, nothing seems to have changed over here. Nature has reasserted itself in the courtyard with all these trees, aged of dozen years old.
This factory was creating billboards of any kind (for sale, do not enter, etc). By entering, we find on the floor an old mattress surrounded by waste. As we approach a bit, we discover that beyond the old Doritos and Ruffles bags, there was syringes and condoms. Junkie's shelter probably.
A junkie poet, I must specify. On the walls, we discover parts of William Blake's poems, an English painter and poet of the nineteenth century. Jim Morrison of the Doors, has also chosen the name of his band by refering to a quotation from Blake's poem "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell": "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite".
On the ground floor, it is rather a verse from a song by Keny Arkana adorning the wall to the right of the entrance: "We want billions who are trying to turn the wheel in the opposite direction. (On est des milliards à vouloir faire tourner la roue dans l'autre sens)"
Also here are some other verses (in french) who can be found on the walls here and there:
It's over 92 years of industrial history that ended in 2004 when the Spexel factory was closed down. The story of this plant start in 1912 when is built the paper mill, which took the name of Howard Smith Paper Mill. Over the following years, the...
Built in 1930, the Wellington tower has ceased operations in 2000. Despite the years that have passed and graffiti artists who came to express their art, the structure of the old tower is still ok. When it was in operation, that's where that were...
I was asked to photograph it (legally) by the Trust group thats restoring the island,which was a life long dream of mine.
The history of the island began in 1900 when Francis Bannerman purchased the island. Located in the Hudson River near...
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve has been deeply marked by the train, in its development. Even today, it is surrounded by three tracks : the Canadian Pacific to the west, the now abandoned Canadian National to the east and the one of the port of Montreal to...