Triplexes in the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighborhood of Montreal.
Photographer: Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg
The Plexes of Montreal Make Room for Change
With their distinctive details and treacherous outdoor staircases, these two- or three-floor apartment buildings dominate the city’s multi-family rental housing market.
(This article is part of Bloomberg CityLab’s series exploring the iconic home designs that shaped global cities. Read more from the series. Get the next story sent to your inbox by subscribing to the CityLab Daily newsletter.)
The steep metal staircases that adorn residential buildings on the streets of Montreal have become one of the city’s emblems. Both a source of fondness and a winter hazard that has inspired artists, they’re the telltale sign of the plex, a narrow and deep building of stacked apartments that came to dominate Montreal home construction in the second half of the 19th century and remains ubiquitous in Canada’s second-most populous city.