The fire that occurred last week in Old Montreal concerns all the citizens of this city. I will not dwell on the complete fiasco regarding the control of illegal Airbnbs that abound in Old Montreal: admission of incapacity of the public authorities passing the buck to the media. The drama that has just occurred no longer allows for dithering.
Apart from the sadness of knowing that innocent people died, for nothing, in this fire, I think that citizens should know what will happen to this important heritage building. We undertook to demolish the upper floors, to gain access to the rubble and to remove the bodies of those who perished, which is understandable and remains, of course, the first thing to do in the circumstances.
But what will we do with the “numbered stones”? What will be done with this historically very important site, for Montreal and more broadly for Quebec? Will there be reconstruction? After all, it is with public funds that the dismantling of the facade and the demolition of the floors will be carried out.
The basement of the William-Watson-Ogilvie building is contiguous to that of the extraordinary historic site of Fort Montreal, the Pointe-à-Callière museum. It is possible that the archaeological soils of the William-Watson-Ogilvie House contain remains that are just as important as those of the adjacent museum. Because, in fact, it is the situated even of the foundation of our city. A marble plaque on the William-Watson-Ogilvie house reminds us that Callière’s castle was located there.
The dismantling of a ruined building by anastylosis is a recognized process and allows its subsequent reconstruction, but has a team of experts been assembled to carry out this dismantling in the right way? The Ministry of Culture will probably decide on the fate of this building, but what will it recommend? Greater transparency would certainly be appreciated by citizens in the circumstances.
The risk, of course, is that the numbered stones will be put “somewhere”, forgotten over the years, and the landlord may finally come up with another ugly tower of concrete and glass condos, and perhaps be sticking a few old stones on the facade, a sort of facadism at a reduced price? Old Montreal is largely owned by speculators and the risk of fire is present in many buildings in this area. However, a fire leads to destruction which in turn leads to a wasteland for a few years, a spiral which leads to a request for a permit, to end up… concrete. The formula is well known.
This is how a city is gradually destroyed, stone by stone, and historic buildings are replaced by concrete towers. Old Montreal is certainly the most fragile neighborhood in our city: a human disaster has occurred there, and the time has not come for reconstruction: priority goes to families who are suffering. But afterwards, an additional failure, on the heritage level, can occur, unless the public authorities show a strong will and take the necessary measures to preserve the little that we have left?