Heritage | Plea for colored cornices

Sheet metal cornices, sometimes very elaborate, adorn the majority of duplexes and triplexes built in Montreal at the turn of the 20th century.^e century. Protected by regulation, they are gradually restored, sometimes even resettled. Most often in black, no offense to the tinsmith Maxime Lepage, who dreams of a city a little more colorful…

Simon Chabot
The Press

“Can you imagine if all the cornices in the city are black? It’s going to be really dull! says Maxime Lepage, owner of La corniche, an artisanal tinsmith who specializes in restoring building crowns.

Attached to their built heritage, the City of Montreal and its boroughs now protect the facades of old buildings much better, especially those located in sectors with high heritage value. When the owners begin major works, the municipal authorities supervise them carefully. Use of period materials, restoration of architectural components, even reconstruction of missing elements, such as a cornice and its ornaments, the list of requirements imposed on owners can be long. And the bill, to match.

Choice of color

To replace a sheet metal cornice of a typical plex, it is necessary to plan at least $5,000 if it is very simple, but up to $50,000 if it has many elements, such as urns and boxes, etc.

However, the only freedom or almost for the owners, “the wood and the sheet metal used as facing or coating can be of a color different from that of origin”, specifies the urban planning regulations of the Plateau-Mont-Royal, a borough straddling the defense of its built heritage.

“Fashion is black, everyone wants that,” says Maxime Lepage, who has nothing against it, but…

“Also, the black sheet metal, it gets very hot in the sun, it’s not ideal, he adds. It is not for nothing that people nowadays install white roofs…”

It remains a personal choice, agrees the tinsmith, who nevertheless invites owners to dare to use color.

“It’s alive, color, in town,” he says. Originally, there were many. I think people back then wanted it to look nice and show off their house like that. »

There are few documents to establish with certainty the most popular colors at the time when sheet metal cornices became ubiquitous in Montreal at the turn of the 20th century.^e century. Maxime Lepage evokes bottle green, steel blue and also burnt orange… The important thing, he believes, is that these colors were varied.

Among the many projects that his company has completed since 2017, Maxime Lepage cites a trio of commercial buildings on Mont-Royal Avenue East, with red, blue and gray cornices. He also speaks of a house on rue Villeneuve, with its elaborate coping in light blue sheet metal. In Outremont, he worked with burgundy, a color he likes.

Multiple challenges

Regardless of the colors, with the regulations in place, Maxime Lepage and his three employees will not be idle for the next few years. “We have at least another 20 years to restore cornices,” he said. We are paying for the negligence of the past. »

Each coping that needs to be redone represents a challenge, which perhaps explains why so few companies are busy with it. “You have to like racking your brains, there’s nothing right,” explains the tinsmith. Decorative urns, for example, are never the same, they must be recreated each time. »

Why give so much importance to the cornice? This ornament gives a building a lot of personality, points out Michel Tanguay, communication manager for the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough. Without their original cornice, the plexes quickly become unremarkable.

Everywhere in the Plateau, regulations for the protection of heritage became much more restrictive in 2004, and not only for coronations. “The impact has been very positive,” says Michel Tanguay. Many buildings have regained their original characteristics, such as cornices and wooden balconies. Yes, there are costs, but well-renovated properties have also gone up in value. »