Whether it is out of passion, necessity or because of a certain reluctance towards “modernity”, diehards practice professions that seem to come from another era, not without bringing them up to date. Continuation of our series Professions of yesteryear. Today: the stonemason.
More than a dozen large blocks of gray stone are lined up in front of Simon Larochelle’s workshop in Montérégie. They will be transformed into pinnacles and lions, then installed on the roof of a building belonging to McGill University in Montreal. Inside the workshop, a large shed located near the stonemason’s house, a damaged statue of a big cat awaits restoration and reproduction.
“We had a meeting with the curator and the architect. I have to do a new one, completely,” says Mr. Larochelle, who has been practicing his profession for many years.
The craftsman takes out his compass to demonstrate how he takes measurements of the piece to be reproduced. “I check the distance between certain points, like the mane and the legs,” he explains.
The expert will also replace pieces of another lion, cracked and crumbling. “This one is completely uncapped. I’m going to put a piece of stone and recut it,” he explains. “It’s glued with lime, stainless steel rods and chemical anchors.”
His job is essentially to repair and reproduce architectural elements of heritage buildings in stone. When it comes to geometric shapes, we can talk about stone carving, while more detailed ornaments are more like sculpture. Mr. Larochelle has the skills to do both.
The self-employed worker has worked on the restoration of many historic buildings in Canada, including the parliaments of Quebec and Ottawa, church fronts in the area of the University of Quebec in Montreal and the Ursuline monastery of Quebec.
“When I walk around Montreal, there are lots of things I’ve done. At the Museum of Fine Arts, they’ve remade gargoyles and capitals with lots of detail,” he says enthusiastically.
So that the difference between the new and the old is not visible, Simon Larochelle has appropriated the original methods and tools, used for hundreds of years. “It’s a question of respecting heritage,” he explains.
To finish a raised inscription, he grabs his mallet and strikes a series of small blows with his flat knife. Fine particles of stone break off and add to those that cover all the surfaces of the workshop, despite the presence of a dust collector, a machine whose tentacle hangs above the work table.
After the decline
Mr. Larochelle estimates that only 15 to 20 people practice the same profession as him in Quebec today. “More than 100 years ago, there were a lot of stonemasons. It was a very common trade, like carpenter, because a large number of buildings were made of stone,” says the forty-year-old.
When concrete appeared, the trade suffered a decline in Quebec, he says. Architectural trends changed completely. “But many old buildings were ripe for restoration. To do that, you need knowledge that had practically been lost. There were French people who came to Quebec because there was a shortage of stone cutters,” says the worker.
Mr. Larochelle took sculpture courses at the Limoilou CEGEP, where he particularly enjoyed working with stone, compared to wood or metal. He was then employed in industrial stone factories. It was through contact with several experienced cutters and sculptors, trained in particular in France and Italy, that he acquired his skills.
Today, he wants to pass on his know-how to the next generation. Two years ago, he and other stonemasons founded a school, Les Ateliers de la pierre du Québec, located in Montreal. For now, the trainers mainly provide support to members who are developing projects to improve their techniques.
“There is no demand for a large pool of labour, but we still need new talent. The profession must continue. My mission, before I end my career, is to have shown the way to four or five people who will continue in the profession,” says the father of two. According to him, it is a physically demanding profession for which patience, determination and dexterity are required.
Stone can now be machined, and hand-made ornaments are unlikely to come back into fashion in new construction. However, heritage will still need to be protected. “There are more and more freeze-thaw cycles [avec les changements climatiques]which greatly affects the limestone. So, I may have a lot of work in the coming years,” Mr. Larochelle emphasizes.
He would also like to further highlight his artistic side. His courtyard is dotted with several of his creations, often refined, such as a large stone mouth. There is also a work on which the traces of the hands of his children and nephews appear.