Building collapse in Saint-Henri came as no surprise to some tenants

Louis-Philippe Langlois had just settled into bed at his apartment in Montreal's Saint-Henri neighborhood on Monday evening when a loud bang reverberated through the building.

Langlois, 32, initially dismissed the noise, attributing it to the constant construction in the area. He and his roommates had become accustomed to the frequent bangs that rattled the building. He even shared a video with CBC News from two months prior, showing a machine driving a large pole into the ground just meters from his home.

Soon after, there was a knock on the door. A police officer informed Langlois and his two roommates that they needed to evacuate the building immediately. Langlois quickly grabbed his laptop and rushed out.

"When I saw the collapsed wall, I wasn't even surprised," Langlois said during a phone interview.

For months, every morning before heading to his job as a stage technician at events like Osheaga and Lasso, Langlois had noticed the intense construction happening next door.

"I told myself something was going to happen," he said.

The century-old building at the intersection of Cazelais and Walnut streets is located next to Highway 136, which was recently refurbished as part of the Turcot Interchange project.

Langlois had been living in the apartment since 2017. Earlier this year, he and his roommates had repainted the space to their liking.

"Everything was top notch. We had all the furniture we wanted. There wasn't anything else to do," he said.

They are still uncertain if they will be able to retrieve their belongings, which were fortunately not caught in the collapse. Langlois is particularly hopeful that he can recover the vinyl and film collections he had been carefully curating for years.

Lavallée, the owner of the collapsed triplex, stated that an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the collapse.