This time seems to be good. After years of procrastination, the rehabilitation project of the Saint-Sulpice library, a true architectural treasure of the metropolis, has just reached a new stage. Quebec is paying $2.6 million to develop the programming for the future Maison de la chanson et de la musique du Québec, the opening of which has been postponed by one year, to 2027.
The magnificent Beaux-Arts style building, located on Saint-Denis Street, welcomed Montreal’s political and cultural elite on Friday for the announcement of this expected news. “I dream of a place of convergence that will become the headquarters of song in Quebec,” said Monique Giroux, creator of this Maison de la chanson project, in front of one of the immense stained glass windows that adorn the walls of the building.
The radio host of Radio-Canada, a living encyclopedia of French-speaking song, has worked for more than 20 years to make what has become her life’s dream come true. With the illustrious lyricist Luc Plamondon, she founded the non-profit organization Écho Sonore, which manages this project as complex as it is ambitious.
Her throat tight with emotion, Monique Giroux recounted the vision of the place that she plans to create with her team. The Maison de la chanson will house a creative studio, a room capable of offering concerts, album launches, film screenings, master classes, interviews. She imagines permanent and temporary exhibitions celebrating artists and significant moments in Quebec song, or even an exhibition devoted to famous people set to music — Jack Monoloy, Belzébuth, Bobépine…
As it is 2024, an “immersive” journey – an essential concept of the moment – will come to life thanks to multimedia technology. Creative workshops and student visits are also on the menu, in particular to learn about BAnQ’s rich sound archives, which will be transferred to this unique place in the world, according to its designers.
A “musty” smell
The bill for the rehabilitation of the building is estimated by the Ministry of Culture at $48.5 million, but “there may be cost overruns,” warns Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante. Preserving architectural heritage is “more complicated” than building new, but levels of government have a duty to save “national treasures” like this building in the Latin Quarter — a sector that greatly needs love, agrees the mayoress.
A “musty” smell, of humidity, greets visitors in the entrance hall of the building built in 1914 and deserted for almost two decades. The immense reading room of the old library, where the intellectuals and writers of the last century had their habits – including Réjean Ducharme, Lionel Groulx and Alain Grandbois – seems very empty, devoid of the large tables which lined the marble floor.
Work to stabilize the building structure, rainwater drainage as well as the ventilation, air conditioning and heating system has been carried out in recent months, confirms BAnQ, owner of the building and partner of the future Maison de la chanson et de la musique du Québec.
In the basement, the 400-seat performance hall needs a good facelift, like the rest of the heritage building.
Uncertainty in culture
At the rear of the building, a freestanding structure four stories high, made of steel, marble and concrete, has already collected no less than 200,000 books, explains Benoit Migneault, librarian and assistant to the director of the general secretariat. from BAnQ. These were transferred one street away, to the Grande Bibliothèque, which opened its doors in 2005. The future Maison de la chanson will find a new vocation for this unusual structure, witness to the era not so distant when digital technology was not part of our lives.
The Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, is convinced that the Maison de la chanson will become “a dynamic, living place, where there will be creation”. It will not be a museum, but this institution will bear witness to the fight for Quebec identity and culture: “Music and song are also the soundtrack of our history,” he said.
The artist Émile Proulx-Cloutier, present at Friday’s announcement, welcomes the birth of a Maison de la chanson, while another Montreal cultural monument, the La Tulipe cabaret, is threatened by a judgment from the Court of Appeal prohibiting any form of noise likely to disturb neighbors.
“Our song needs love. Cultural places are weakened,” he said.