An 18th century stone housee century, one of the few of its kind still standing on the entire island of Montreal, escaped demolition this spring in the town of Mount Royal (VMR). This threatened historic building appears like an orphan left on the sidelines of the history of municipal mergers and demergers.
In 2004, during the short interval when VMR was merged into Montreal, the urban plan ruled that the residence was of “heritage interest”.
The following year, a Montreal urban heritage assessment placed this same house, located at 2333 Sunset Road, on the short list of buildings with “exceptional heritage value”.
But since VMR became an independent city again in 2006, this ancestral house has not only been forgotten, but left behind. To the point of seriously deteriorating and facing a demolition notice.
VMR “has issued several opinions concerning nuisances, cleanliness and maintenance of the land and also of the building”, affirms Duty the spokesperson for the municipality. “The owner never responded and was impossible to contact,” so things remained there for a long time.
The municipality affirms Duty that she does not “intend to have a heritage assessment carried out for this building at the moment”.
No list
Could VMR consider citing the building to ensure its protection? “No, that is not the City’s intention,” was the response. Duty. The municipality specifies at the same time that “there are no city buildings in VMR”.
More than 18 years after regaining its autonomy from Montreal, VMR still cannot count on a complete inventory of heritage buildings located on its territory. Under the law, this municipality of approximately 20,000 inhabitants still has until 2026 to adopt one and adapt its regulations accordingly.
Quebec law indicates that a city’s regulations must notably consider the history of a building, its contribution to local history, its particularities, and its degree of authenticity. Failing which the municipality “will comply”, in the meantime, indicates VMR at Dutyto the obligation to submit its decisions to the Ministry of Culture and Communications.
A rare witness
Everyone seems to pay little attention to the importance of this house on Sunset Road, bitterly laments Françoise Le Gris, art theorist and curator, also known as associate professor of art history at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Mme Le Gris fervently pleads that this house is important not only for TMR, but also for the island of Montreal, even for the history of Quebec.
“According to my research, the house dates back well to the 18the century,” explains M.me Le Gris, that is to say “at the time when the Sulpicians, the lords of the island, granted concessions”. She maintains that, contrary to the entry of the date 1910 on the property assessment roll, everything indicates that this ancestral stone residence dates back more than two centuries. Well before the founding of this “garden city” designed by Frederick Gage Todd thanks to a new railway route.
“It would be contemporary with the Brisson house or the François Jarry house (1787), and like the latter, a farm house like there were many in the 18th century.e and XIXe centuries on the island of Montreal and its surroundings. Hence its particular architecture, featuring a large attic roof,” explains M.me The Gray based on old documents.
Of these houses built at the time when the Sulpicians were lords of the island of Montreal, there are practically no witnesses left. Which immediately gives them exceptional value.
On the Terrier des Sulpiciens dated 1865, a sort of mapped register of concessions granted to settlers to populate the island of Montreal, this house is among the farms spread along what was called the Saint-Laurent coast.
To get to the bottom of the story, experts would need to be able to closely examine the framework of the oldest body of the residence, in collaboration with the public authorities. This has still not been done.
Françoise Le Gris claims to have made numerous requests to the municipality for this house to be protected and enhanced. In vain, she said.
Damage and demolition?
In response to questions from Duty, the City admits that the premises have deteriorated over time. Could VMR, under the law, have carried out conservation work, possibly at the expense of the owners? She instead decided to contact representatives of the Curateur public “in order to have non-compliances corrected, but with little success,” she admits.
In 2022, the new private managers of the property carried out work on the roof at the request of the City. New cladding was installed and the six dormer windows were protected.
The ancestral home has since been in the hands of a financial planner as well as a real estate agent. The two submitted a demolition request to the City in the spring of 2024, according to the public certificate consulted The duty. They wanted to build a new building on the land.
Some 40 citizens opposed the project. Sensitive to this expression of interest, the City rejected the request, also stating that it was not convinced of “the integration of the preliminary land reuse program”, that is to say the reconstruction project. presented for the site. A new demolition request could be submitted, indicates the Town of Mount Royal.