Habitat 67
A McGill thesis project that actually got built — 354 prefabricated concrete boxes stacked into homes on the Saint Lawrence for a 1967 World's Fair.
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Moshe Safdie proposed his architecture school thesis as an Expo 67 pavilion, got it approved by the federal cabinet and Prime Minister Pearson, and watched it get built at Cité du Havre for CA$22.4 million. The original scope was 1,200 homes; what exists is smaller. Tenants bought the building from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1985 — it's a lived-in residential complex, not a monument.
What to look for
- 354 identical prefabricated concrete modules, each 11.7 m × 5.3 m × 3 m, stacked to form the whole mass
- The Marc-Drouin Quay immediately alongside — the quay gives you the clearest read of how the modules stack above the Saint Lawrence
- The residential reality: the units are private homes owned by a tenant limited partnership
Address: 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy, Cité du Havre — approach via the Marc-Drouin Quay to see the full river-facing elevation; interior is private residential.
Habitat 67 is one of 14 sights worth the detour in Montreal, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Montreal pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Montreal
- Circuit Gilles VilleneuveThe track where Gilles Villeneuve beat the world on home soil in 1978 — and it now carries his name.
- Olympic StadiumThe stadium that cost so much, Montreal renamed it "The Big Owe."
- Bell CentreCanada's largest indoor arena holds 20,962 people — and on a Canadiens night, the noise travels several city blocks.
- Notre-Dame BasilicaDeep blue vaults scattered with gold stars, and a 7,000-pipe organ that fills every corner of it.
- Montreal Museum of Fine ArtsCanada's oldest art museum, founded in 1860, now sprawls across five pavilions and draws more visitors than any other art museum in the country.
- Montreal City HallThe balcony where Charles de Gaulle delivered his "Vive le Québec libre" speech in 1967.