VISION: Ilôt Wings

A Cultural Anchor for Montreal’s Chinatown at Wing’s Block

Introduction

Wing’s Block in 1975 (Robert Nadon, BANQ)

For generations, Wing Noodles stood as a symbol of continuity in a neighbourhood shaped by constant change. Its landmark buildings stand within the heritage designated “institutional core” of the district, a block containing some of Chinatown’s richest heritage buildings, home to the longest standing institutional and community organizations, and holding significant potential for Chinatown’s future.

Today, as the Wing’s Block stands at the intersection of memory and possibility with Wing Noodles’ departure, Chinatown needs a clear vision to turn a potential crisis of uncertainty into an opportunity.

To meet the end of this chapter for Chinatown, the JIA Foundation launched the Wing’s Conservation Strategy, a two-part strategy that seeks to preserve and promote the legacy of Wing Noodles in our neighbourhood.

The goal is not simply to preserve an important site in Montréal, but to reimagine Chinatown through Wing’s legacy and values to inspire a community-led vision for the future, one that places culture, heritage and community value at the heart of urban development.

Partners Table meeting in Wing’s Building (Karen Cho)

With support from the City of Montreal, JIA partnered with Rayside Labossière to convene a Partners Table that brings together neighbours from the Wing’s Block, local institutions, businesses, property owners, and space activators, to share plans, identify collaborations, and coordinate action. This process led to the development of the Vision for Wing’s Block, a roadmap that establishes shared foundations for future work and commitments from each organization.

In collectively developing this vision, we invited residents and the broader public to share their ideas through an interactive program Making Place Making Home, gathering community stories and visions around the past, present, and future of the Wing’s Block. Through two engagement activities as part of the exhibition Wing Noodles: The Heart of Chinatown, this interactive program aimed to document community knowledge about the relational, cultural, and spatial conditions that make this neighbourhood unique. The voices and stories shared, centred around Chinatown spaces, helped inform, guide, and activate the development of the Vision for Wing’s Block.

Postcards From the Future Booklet

Chinatown Storymap

Postcards from the future workshop (Quang Hai Nguyen)

The Wing’s Block Vision seeks to turn this heritage-designated sector into a key cultural heritage anchor for Chinatown. For JIA, this moment marks the beginning of a new chapter. Through community storytelling, place-keeping, place-making and equitable development practices, we will build infrastructure for social change that strengthens Chinatown’s future while safeguarding its living cultural heritage.

The future of the Wing’s Block will be written collectively—by the people who live, work, and care for it.