On May 13, 2022, the Domaine-de-l’Estérel shopping center was razed, a listed heritage building, the last important vestige of the resort town built between 1936 and 1938 on the shore of Despair Bay, in the Laurentians. The scene of the crime has changed little since. The rubble of the building is still piling up on the site adjacent to the municipal beach and near several residences. Such a status quo challenges.
On September 17, 2022, on the eve of the provincial elections, in collaboration with Action patrimoine and the Société d’histoire de Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson et d’Estérel, Docomomo Québec organized a day of discussion and reflection to that the file does not fall into oblivion. A year later, what to think, what to wish for, what to demand, what to hope for?
After visiting the site, in September, about a hundred citizens and several organizations gathered in the council chambers of Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson town hall to answer the question: should we rebuild the Domaine-de-l’Estérel shopping center? In THE Dutyon August 11, we wondered about the legitimacy of such an intervention.
Be that as it may, a broad consensus in favor of heritage reconstruction emerged from the meeting, a wish shared by the municipal authorities. On October 11, 2022, the Council of the MRC des Pays-d’en-Haut unanimously voted two resolutions: the first asks the owner of the former shopping center, the company Olymbec, to proceed with the heritage reconstruction of the building illegally demolished, and the Ministry of Culture and Communications to take the necessary means to ensure this; the second signifies to the government the maintenance of the candidacy of the former shopping center as Espace bleu des Laurentides. In addition, the Council mandated the prefect to take the necessary political steps in this file.
Since then, the prefect, the mayors of Sainte-Marguerite and Estérel and a representative of the Société d’histoire met with the Member of Parliament for Bertrand, France-Élaine Duranceau, Minister responsible for Housing in the Government of Quebec. The meeting requested from the Minister of Culture and Communications would be awaiting the end of the investigation opened to establish responsibilities in this case of violation of the Cultural Heritage Act, an investigation which is continuing. On March 29, the ministry announced that searches were being conducted in connection with the events surrounding the demolition of the heritage building, a “surprising action” because unprecedented, as Jean-François Nadeau pointed out in The duty.
The case of the Shopping Center is exceptional, not considering the loss represented by its demolition. It is not the first heritage building to be destroyed. However, to our knowledge, in Quebec, it is the first whose heritage reconstruction is requested by citizens and local authorities. Remember that this is the intention of the owner, according to the press release published by Olymbec.
Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson had a unique modern heritage given its scale and its historical, architectural and landscape values resulting from the ambitious undertaking of the Belgian Baron Louis Empain. In less than three years, in collaboration with the architects Antoine Courtens and Louis Nicolas, and thanks to the recruitment of around 700 workers, the estate had been laid out.
Its major elements, given their collective function and their monumental presence, have all, one by one, disappeared: around 1960, the Sporting Club du lac Dupuis was modified to become the Hôtel L’Estérel. Subsequently, despite the many actions carried out by associations in favor of this heritage, in 2012, the Hôtel de la Pointe-Bleue, which housed a CHSLD, was destroyed and, disused, the Ski Lodge in round wood unexpectedly passed to the fire ; in 2022, its neighbour, the Mall, was razed.
Should we be satisfied with such a deletion? Should we wait for the legal outcome of the case to explore the possibilities of heritage reconstruction of the Shopping Center? Given the unprecedented situation, should the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications not take the lead and continue the reflection initiated in September 2022, with the collaboration of the people and organizations that launched it?