Saint-Roch, Quebec City

[1][2] Saint-Roch was first settled in 1620 by the Recollects, who built a small church dedicated to Saint Roch.

From the mid-19th century to the 1960s, rue Saint-Joseph was the main commercial street in Quebec City.

[4] Many working-class residential buildings, representing one tenth of the area of Saint-Roch, were demolished in 1972 to make way for an overpass of highway 440 (Dufferin-Montmorency segment), as a way to accommodate the post-Second World War suburban expansion and automobile use.

The empty lot on which the concrete pillars were built was used for public art, and later for illegal graffiti and authorized large-scale trompe-l'œil murals.

It was also a socializing place for protesters during the 2001 Summit of the Americas,[8] as well as where the Cirque du Soleil free show Les Chemins invisibles was held in the summers between 2010 and 2012.