Exterior wall of St-Henri triplex collapses, leaving gaping hole in side

The exterior wall of a triplex in St-Henri collapsed onto an adjacent construction site on Monday afternoon, leaving the interior of the apartments exposed, much like a dollhouse.

The Montreal fire department received a call about the collapse on Cazelais St., located just below the Ville-Marie expressway, shortly after 1:30 p.m.

“Luckily, no one was injured or, worse, killed,” said division Chief George Bele. He added that nearby buildings were evacuated as a precaution.

The collapse occurred next to a large hole that had been excavated in the lot to the west, which remained filled with debris from the collapsed apartments as of Tuesday.

“The question I’ve been asked a lot is why the construction was happening, and that, I have no idea,” Bele said. “All we know is there was construction, and the building partially collapsed toward the former parking lot, where the construction was taking place.”

According to a post on Agora Montréal, a forum on urban development in the city, a construction permit for a three-story, five-unit building on the neighboring lot was issued just a week before the collapse.

Google Street View images show that a building once stood on the neighboring lot years ago, before the Ville-Marie expressway was revamped.

The collapsed building is currently listed for sale at just under $1.3 million. The listing indicates that the building, constructed in 1910, consists of three apartments: two 4 1/2 units and one 5 1/2 unit. The ground-floor unit was renovated in 2021, and the third-floor apartment was updated in the spring of 2023.

Lorraine Muller, who was visiting a friend across the street from the building when the collapse occurred, said there was nothing unusual when she arrived around 1:20 p.m.

“We were in the back of her apartment and heard something, but with all the construction and trucks in the area near the highway, we didn’t think much of it,” Muller said. “Then I realized there was a lot of chatter outside.”

When they looked out the front window, they saw several people gathered on the street.

“We went outside, and there it was: The whole wall had collapsed,” Muller said.

She added that it seemed the hole in the neighboring lot might have been dug too close to the existing building.

“You can see it’s very close to where that supporting wall was,” she said. “I feel like they just hit a bad spot.”

Bele mentioned that the case has been handed over to the city of Montreal’s inspection team. The city did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication on Tuesday.