Walking Montreal and Rideau Streets, August 2021

What better way to spend my waiting-time at Krown Rust Kontrol than to try to discover some new angles along Montreal and Rideau Streets? It was a warm day, and I ended up hoofing it all the way to Caaraqui Street. Crossing Montreal Street, I stood on th S-shaped entrance road to Village on the River, photographing the former Chown warehouse, now the service building for the Village complex. This is the spot at which the Hanley Spur approached the mainline. Grand Trunk Terrace (top photo) and former Outer Station/Pig & Whistle losing its roof and soffits:

The former Bailey broom factory at Rideau and Cataraqui Streets looks ready to be inhabited by latte-drinking, networking shared-spacers!

The new north wall - siding over brick, large windows that I resisted the temptation to peer in thereby not leaving greasy nose-marks on this otherwise modern-looking repurposing!

The National Grocers building looks on sternly yet approvingly:

An open door formerly used to unload boxcars on the CN spur. Resisting another temptation to rubber-neck in there, I knew that the door looked 'vintage' but the interior was more modern!

Cataraqui Street side of the 'Bailey'. A multiple-unit residential building remains to be built just north on Rideau Street:

That time-honoured view down Cataraqui Street at Rideau Street. The Woolen Mill and National Grocers are the remaining buildings of this former industrial quartet since the Rosen Fuels fire:

Heading north on the Urban K&P Trail (parallel CN and CP tracks, formerly), I noted that the multi-use sign has been grown'over by its tree-host!

Nicely landscaped by the city, the west side of the Trail behind buildings fronting Rideau Street has been blocked off by construction fence (below). Rambling encampments and folks lounging around the Integrated Care Hub were accompanied by random paths into the woods, odd smells, and litter between here and Montreal Street. I met a family of cyclists but few other users in this area.

The road less travelled? The Trail continues toward the Railway/Montreal intersection, while the needle disposal box on the former CN alignment marks an unofficial trail that passes behind houses along Montreal Street past the Village on the River complex:

The former McKenna's grocery store, perhaps no longer recognizable with its metal cladding and oval doorways in stonework. The side elevation gives it away!

1950 view, Queen's University Archives photo: