This new category of tickets will help you discover our roles within the organization and our personal favourites. Taïka Baillargeon joined Héritage Montréal on April 6, 2020. Her role as Assistant Policy Director leads her to collaborate in the follow-up of heritage protection and enhancement files in the Greater Montreal area, with our Director of Policies Dinu Bumbaru. She also assists our Communications Coordinator in the creation of content.
Héritage Montréal you
Can you introduce yourself quickly (your studies, your background...)?
I'm a bit of a handyman, but "cultural" version. I did a bachelor's degree in French Literature, then a master's degree in Comparative Literature before doing a doctorate in Urban Studies, followed by a postdoctorate in Geography. It may seem scattered, but there has always been a common thread: the history of ideas and the memory of places. This transdisciplinary path is very dear to me, and it is precisely it that led me to the study of cities and their components. The city is the most complex and richest object, at the crossroads of all that touches the human being, which I have come across in my life. Hence, no doubt, the love I have for it.
What inspired you to join Héritage Montréal?
I did part of my studies in Europe, and when I returned to Quebec, I immediately got involved withHéritage Montréal a volunteer. What I like about this organization is its desire to make heritage accessible and to build bridges between citizen engagement and heritage management. Heritage often seems out of reach, yet at the same time, it is at the heart of our daily lives. It is much more than just the preservation of beautiful or old buildings; it is a tool for collective memory and a privileged witness to the extraordinary relationship that has developed over time between buildings and those who inhabit them.
What is your favourite ArchitecTours tour?
For me, there is no doubt that the visit to Silo No. 5 was a big, big "must". At the time I was doing some urban exploration and it was really hard to visit the Silos. I also remember my first meeting with Dinu. It was in 2012 and the theme of the ArchitecTours was: village cores. I think a volunteer had a problem and Dinu was touring the village nucleus of Côte-des-Neiges. Dinu really is a great storyteller! Since I did my literary studies at UdeM, I know the neighbourhood very well, but it was really a great experience. In particular, he showed us an apartment where members of the FLQ had once gathered... it really made an impression on me.
You and Montreal
If you had to live in another part of Montreal, which one would it be and why?
I now live in a region not far from the greater Montreal metropolitan area. This still surprises me every day, even though I'm very well there. But if I had to live in a neighbourhood of Montreal, I would live in Saint-Henri. Saint-Henri is a complex neighbourhood, full of urban treasures. It's diverse, it's divided, it's stigmatized, it's resilient, it's beautiful. I love Saint-Henri deeply. It is probably the neighbourhood in Montreal where I feel most at home.
What was your last crush on a building/landscape in Montreal?
Yesterday afternoon, I was at the Forges de Montréal with Mathieu Boisclair who works with us and this neighbourhood, a lace of lost highways, is absolutely surreal! You enter it as if you were in the belly of a concrete Leviathan. And there, the former Riverside pumping station resists, resilient, to the ravages of time. The forges have given it back a lot of love and it's a fabulous place. When you think about it, it's an absolutely romantic landscape!
What is (or are) the next place(s) you would like to visit in Montreal?
This summer, I'd like to take the time to take a grand tour of the island. Laure Barrachina, our new activities director, gave me the idea. Even though I am familiar with a few outlying areas on the east side of the island, such as Rivière-des-Prairies or Pointes-aux-Trembles, I still know very little about the west side of the island, except perhaps Lachine, where my husband does a lot of kiteboarding and which I visit regularly with my family. Even if Montreal is not "an island, a city", the island is a whole and I find it important to know it from all angles.
What is your top 3 cities to visit (outside of Montreal)? Do you have any specific recommendations?
This is a VERY difficult question because I have often liked cities that are not easy to visit. And when you think about it, all cities have their little je ne sais quoi... But for the exercise, I would say: Berlin, Rome and Rotterdam. These are very surprising cities for different reasons. I don't have a specific recommendation, except that: leave your cell phone at home, buy yourself a city map for 2 euros, get lost, be surprised and fall in love!
If you had to live in a city other than Montreal, which one would it be and why?
Another VERY difficult choice... Montreal is my "family home". If I continue the analogy, I would say that Saint-Bruno, where I currently live, is my "summer home". But if I had to live somewhere else than here, I would gladly live in a city that I have never visited. It's an extraordinary experience to go and live in a city that you may or may not know.
What is your first architectural or heritage related memory?
My earliest architectural memories are all of family car rides. At the age of 5 or 6, from the back window of our Renault 5, the center of townville de Montréal and the refineries left a deep imprint on my imagination. They're both larger-than-life landscapes, and very impressive: the downtown area with its skyscrapers, and the refineries with their post-apocalyptic '70s movie look.
Do you have a book on architecture, history, urban planning or heritage to recommend?
In my opinion, few works pay homage to the city like The City through the story of Lewis Mumford. Mumford was a journalist, a self-taught architectural critic... His gaze was also much more sensitive than technical, even though he did extensive research. In this essay, sometimes poetic at times, we move from the infinitely intimate to the broader issues of the urban world, and nothing could be more in tune with the complexity of the city. Strange as it may seem, I particularly liked this book for its reflection on the importance of matriarchy in the Neolithic urban form. I believe that there has always been a female inhabitant and this work calls us, probably without meaning to, to revalorize this inhabitant.
Click here to read all articles by Taïka Baillargeon on our blog!
