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Regrets, she’s had a few. But then again, too few to mention.

Phyllis Lambert, founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), can look back on a lifetime devoted to heritage and urban design and say, in the words of Ol’ Blue Eyes, “I did it my way.”

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Lambert, Montreal’s “Joan of Architecture,” turns 90 on Tuesday. To mark the occasion, the CCA is hosting a small exhibition on her life and work. Curated by Lambert herself, it recounts a life of architectural activism, starting with the commissioning of the landmark Seagram’s Building in New York from 1954-58.

At a press conference last week to launch the retrospective, Lambert said her proudest accomplishment is having helped “change Montrealers’ mindset” about their built environment.

“There’s been greater and greater consciousness,” she said.

“The idea of renovating a building in the early 1970s, nobody ever heard of it. You just knocked something down because you didn’t have any use for it anymore.”