Montreal is Canada's second largest city and its cultural capital — and its abandoned places carry the weight of a metropolis that was once the industrial and financial heart of the country. A massive concrete grain elevator complex looming over the Old Port waterfront. A 19th-century church consumed by fire on a Quebec island. A Victorian convent whose underground crypts have never been fully documented. Here are 5 of the best abandoned places near Montreal, selected from our Abandoned Places Map Canada — 2,500+ GPS locations across Canada.
Why Montreal Is a Hidden Gem for Urban Exploration
Montreal's urbex landscape is one of the richest in North America — a combination of 19th-century industrial infrastructure, religious institutional heritage and the extraordinary concentration of abandoned warehouses, factories and civic buildings left by Montreal's transition from industrial capital to post-industrial city. The Old Port, the Canal Lachine corridor and the surrounding Quebec islands all contain significant abandoned sites within easy reach.
1. Silo No. 5 – Old Port of Montreal, Quebec — 1906 Concrete Grain Elevator Complex, Abandoned Since 1994, Towers Over the Old Port Waterfront (Known Location)
Grain Elevator No. 5 in the Old Port of Montreal is the defining industrial monument of the city's St. Lawrence River economy — a massive concrete grain storage complex built from 1906 onward that handled the prairie grain flowing east through the St. Lawrence Seaway. At its peak it stored 8 million bushels; abandoned since 1994, the concrete towers rise 60 metres above the Old Port waterfront in spectacular brutalist silhouette. Various redevelopment proposals have circulated for decades while the silos stand in atmospheric abandonment. The most iconic and most photographed abandoned place in Montreal.
🔗 Learn more: Wikipedia – Grain Elevator No. 5 Montreal
2. St. Raphael's Ruins – Île-Bizard, Quebec — 19th-Century Stone Church Destroyed by Fire, Ivy-Covered Walls and Arches Still Standing, 30 Minutes from Montreal (Known Location)
The ruins of St. Raphael's Church on Île-Bizard — a 19th-century stone Roman Catholic church partially destroyed by fire, leaving only the limestone walls and arched window frames standing. Ivy and vines have consumed the exterior walls over the decades since the fire; the interior is now open to the sky with trees growing from the rubble floor. The ruins are freely accessible within the surrounding agricultural landscape of Île-Bizard. One of the most atmospherically beautiful and most romantically ruined abandoned places near Montreal — stone walls, Gothic arches and Quebec countryside in one frame. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Best Abandoned Places in Canada →
3. Grey Nuns Mother House – Montreal, Quebec — 1871 Vast Convent Complex, Underground Crypts and Original Dormitories Partially Abandoned, NDG Neighbourhood (Known Location)
The Grey Nuns Mother House built in 1871 is one of the largest institutional buildings in Montreal — a vast convent complex that served as the headquarters of the Grey Nuns religious order for over a century. When the order moved in the early 2000s, parts of the building were converted to student residences at Concordia University; however, significant sections including the original dormitories, the underground crypts and the historic chapel remain in various states of atmospheric semi-abandonment alongside the active portions. One of the most historically layered and most architecturally extraordinary abandoned places in Montreal. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
4. Abandoned Lachine Canal Industrial Corridor – 1820s-1960s Canal-Era Factories and Warehouses, Original Brick and Stone Construction, Canal Lachine National Historic Site (Exclusively on Our Map)
The Lachine Canal powered Montreal's industrial revolution from the 1820s through the 1960s — the canal's hydropower attracted factories, mills and warehouses that made the surrounding corridor the industrial heart of Canada. When the St. Lawrence Seaway made the canal obsolete in 1970, the corridor was simply locked up. Parks Canada has restored sections but significant original 1820s-1960s brick and stone factory buildings remain in various states of atmospheric industrial abandonment along the canal banks. One of the most historically significant and most accessibly situated abandoned industrial landscapes in Canada. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
5. Abandoned Quebec Laurentian Resort Lodge – 1930s-1960s Mountain Lodge, Chalet Buildings and Pool Infrastructure in Forest Decay, Laurentians Region (Exclusively on Our Map)
The Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal were the birthplace of North American ski tourism — dozens of resort lodges and chalet complexes built from the 1930s through the 1960s serving the Montreal leisure class who rode the CP ski trains north every winter weekend. A surviving 1930s-1960s Laurentian lodge retains the original log and stone main building, the chalet accommodation units and the outdoor pool infrastructure slowly consumed by the Quebec boreal forest. When the ski resorts consolidated and road access improved, many smaller lodges became uneconomic overnight. One of the most nostalgic and most atmospherically Quebec abandoned places near Montreal. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
Safety Tips
- Asbestos: universal in pre-1980 Montreal industrial and institutional buildings — always wear an FFP2 mask in any enclosed space
- Quebec winters: abandoned structures are significantly more dangerous November through April — always check conditions and avoid icy or snow-loaded floors
- Never explore alone — always bring at least one other person
The urbex code applies everywhere: "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."
❓ FAQ
What is the most famous abandoned place near Montreal?
Grain Elevator No. 5 in the Old Port — a 1906 concrete grain storage complex abandoned since 1994 whose towers rise 60 metres above the Old Port waterfront. The defining industrial monument of Montreal's St. Lawrence grain trade and the most photographed abandoned place in the city.
What are the St. Raphael's Ruins?
The limestone walls and Gothic arches of a 19th-century stone church on Île-Bizard partially destroyed by fire. Ivy-covered and open to the sky, freely accessible in the Île-Bizard countryside 30 minutes from Montreal. One of the most atmospherically romantic abandoned places in Quebec.
What was the Lachine Canal?
A canal built in 1825 to bypass the Lachine Rapids on the St. Lawrence River, which powered Montreal's industrial revolution for 145 years. The St. Lawrence Seaway made it obsolete in 1970; Parks Canada has since restored sections and designated it a National Historic Site. The surrounding factory corridor retains significant original industrial architecture.
🎯 Summary
Montreal's abandoned places range from a 1906 grain elevator whose concrete towers still dominate the Old Port waterfront, to ivy-covered church ruins on a Quebec island and Laurentian mountain ski lodges consumed by the boreal forest. Each of these 5 abandoned places near Montreal captures a different layer of Canada's most culturally complex city.
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