SOCA is developing a feasibility study in collaboration with Rebecca Taylor Architect. This work builds upon a design studio led by Shane and Rebecca Taylor at McGill University’s School of Architecture to imagine new possibilities for the Centre for Canadians of African Descent (CCAD). Building upon the site’s rich legacy as the location of the former Negro Community Centre / Charles H. Este Cultural Centre (NCC), new programming will blend community services with multi-unit housing to generate a site of living memory and nurture a thriving future within the neighbourhood. 

The NCC, founded in the 1920’s, was an active and significant Community Centre serving Montreal’s black community through a range of programs including offices, a gymnasium, a sewing room, a kitchen, a library, and the Walker Credit Union office. The centre was a hub for the community, supporting great jazz greats and providing youth programming, a daycare, summer camps, dance and music lessons, after-school programs, a seniors program, and language courses. After laying dormant for many years, the building was demolished in 2014, sold to a developer, and in 2022, purchased by the City of Montreal to return it to community use. 

To determine how the CCAD might revive the site’s history, SOCA and RTA guided McGill University students in an architectural analysis of the original NCC. The studio ‘Memory and Future: The Architecture of Community’ activated students in the question of what community-based future can exist for this complex site, exploring both local and global Black histories to inform new narratives for the Little Burgundy neighbourhood.

Together with RTA, SOCA has been working closely with the CCAD to design an unfolding engagement plan that elicits reflection, participation, and dreaming across generations. Discussions to date have determined a preliminary program: the building will host research, co-working, exhibitions, and events, as well as support spaces for community organizations. Developing on cohousing precedents, the building includes a residential program that will add 30 to 40 rental units, with options for larger families. The aim is to support the right to remain for local residents, building community stability for a neighbourhood under pressure of gentrification and displacement.