Montreal Allowed Apartments Next To La Tulipe & Now Its New Neighbours Want It To Be Quiet

A new skirmish in the war for the cultural soul of Montreal has pitted the historic La Tulipe music venue on one side and a real estate company on the other. Stuck in the middle is the city's administration, which promised that the storied La Tulipe is "here to stay."

In a widely-shared social media post, the owners of La Tulipe claimed that the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough mistakenly allowed residential development across the road from the venue and that now the tenants in that building keep making noise complaints about living next to a music venue.

The residential building, which is owned by a real estate company, filed an injunction against La Tulipe that could force it to close forever. The company and the venue's owners are going to court the week of December 21.

La Tulipe argued that the city is doing nothing to protect its building, which has housed various music venues and cabarets since 1913. Its owners say that as a cultural institution in Montreal, the city must do more to protect it.

After La Tulipe's post went viral, Luc Rabouin, mayor of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, took to social media to promise that the "La Tulipe theatre is here to stay."

"The cultural vitality of the Plateau is an asset to be preserved. We have had several discussions with the owners, and are closely monitoring the legal proceedings underway between the two private parties. A solution will emerge."

At a press conference on Wednesday, the borough mayor admitted that the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough mistakenly issued a residential building permit to the current owners of the building near the venue. Rabouin said that the city is exploring how to rectify this error.

"The city is taking administrative steps to correct the situation," said Rabouin. "[But] we need to be very careful in our declarations," explained the mayor, since both parties are embroiled in a legal dispute.