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“There was an old woman who lived in a shoe … box house.”

— with apologies to Mother Goose.

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You’ve seen them around, perhaps even done a double take as you passed one by. They seem like mirages, picturesque relics from another era — which is precisely what they are.

Single-story “shoebox” homes, built at the turn of the 20th century, dot the Montreal cityscape, squeezed between duplexes and triplexes.

But there are fewer than there used to be, and if the rampant condo craze and Montreal’s ever-surging real estate market had the last word, there would be fewer still. So Rosemont is doing something about it.

A bylaw protecting the borough of Rosemont—La-Petite-Patrie’s 561 shoebox houses was proposed this week and will come into effect in December, if all goes according to plan. Christine Gosselin couldn’t be happier.

“This legislation is groundbreaking in terms of recognizing the value of modest residential heritage,” said the Vieux-Rosemont city councillor and Projet Montreal executive committee member responsible for culture, heritage and design.