The oldest customs post still standing in Canada, the Wilder-Pierce building, is the subject of legal proceedings with a view to its demolition. However, this historic building, located in Stanstead, in the Eastern Townships, is in principle protected by the municipality, which wishes to demolish it. The building was cited under the Cultural Heritage Act.
“It was the owner who insisted that the building be quoted”, explains to the To have to the director general of the municipality of Stanstead, Jean-Charles Bellemare. “He pretended to want to save him. »
According to the municipal officer, the citation that the City granted to the building is not likely to protect it from the desired demolition. “There is a difference between a citation and a ranking at the highest level by Quebec,” he claims. “A citation does not mean that the building is under a glass bell, as for the UNESCO heritage. In the case of a quote, different things can happen. »
Like a demolition? ” Yes “.
A confrontation
“I had to fight with the City to get it to recognize the heritage and historical interest of this building,” explains Pierre Drolet-Massue, the current owner of the premises. Passionate about history, this former investigator is known as a very important collector of old books.
At To have to, he claims to have bought the house in 2005 with the intention of saving it, while regretting the disregard that the municipality had made of it until then. “She didn’t even include it in her list as one of the important buildings in the region”, laments this man who says he also owns another house in the municipality.
Built around 1812, the Wilder-Pierce building served first as a store and then as a customs post in this city. Stanstead is then very important. It is on the stagecoach route to Boston and has several economic attractions. For a long time, the Wilder-Pierce building will be the “only customs office in the entire Eastern Townships region”. Later there was, among other things, a branch of the Eastern Townships Bank, a company in which the Conservative minister John Henry Pope, who was very influential in the affairs of the province, was a shareholder.
“This is probably the oldest surviving building that was used as a customs office in Canada,” reads the website of the Government of Quebec’s Built Heritage Directory.
In 2009, the municipal council of this border town highlighted the historical and architectural value of the place by citing it, according to the terms of the Quebec law on cultural heritage.
Stanstead, through the voice of its managing director, affirms to the To have to not being aware of the historical value of the building. “I am not a historian”, drops Jean-Charles Bellemare several times.
Procedures
The Town of Stanstead has initiated proceedings against the owner of the Wilder-Pierce building because of the condition of the premises. In 2013, “the building was judged to be in disrepair”, summarizes a judgment rendered on December 7, 2021. On that date, at the Sherbrooke courthouse, the special clerk concluded, in the absence of the owner, that it was necessary to demolish the premises, according to the will of the municipality. This judgment has since been challenged by the owner.
“I’ve never had good relations with the Town of Stanstead since I’ve been there,” repeats Pierre Drolet-Massue. “I did the work that was asked of me to save the building. But it’s always complicated. It’s an old Anglo-Saxon mentality that dominates here. I was constantly put in the way. »
In his opinion, his troubles started when the local food market wanted to relocate. “They had views on the pitch. And since then, the municipality has never stopped being on my back. There, the new administration of the city is taken with this file, put forward by the previous mayor. »
A building protected by law?
The Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec of the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications (MCC) indicates that “protection applies to the exterior envelope of the Wilder-Pierce building”. The law on the heritage of Quebec specifies for its part that “no one can, without the authorization of the council of the municipality which adopted the citation by-law, destroy all or part […] a listed heritage building”.
This legal citation of the building, under the law, should in principle give access to subsidies to facilitate its rehabilitation. “It makes the buildings accessible to subsidies,” confirms the municipality of Stanstead, while indicating that it does not wish to get involved. It is not up to her to take steps to rehabilitate the building, she said. “The law does not provide for anything. It’s not because the building is mentioned that we have to do everything. With the number of buildings that are cited in the province, it becomes impossible to take the steps in question, ”indicates the To have to Stanstead’s general manager. This municipality has two cited buildings.
“A first judgment had been rendered before the court in Sherbrooke”, indicates the municipality. The owner had to do some work. “Some work has been done, but not all. There must have been an architect’s study. It hasn’t been done. We sent letters from lawyers, bailiffs, whatever. »
According to what the municipality advances and which is reported by a judgment of the Court, “only demolition is possible, since the value of the work is evaluated at $167,000, and the building would only have a value of $21,700”.
The heritage interest
The owner, Mr. Drolet-Massue, is very angry at the municipality’s attitude, which he considers contrary to the public interest in terms of heritage protection. “I have always complied with the requests of the municipality. They submitted an engineer’s report that doesn’t hold water. There is no reason to demolish this building which is important for the history of Quebec. It is a total lack of vision to want to destroy it. »
According to the municipality, which relies on two reports it commissioned, the building presents a risk of collapse if an intervention is not carried out.
Why isn’t the owner working to repair the building in this way, as it was asked to do? “I redid the electricity. I redid the roof. I arranged windows. But it’s true that for five years, because of the procedures, I haven’t done anything. I’m not going to throw my money in the air when I have no collaboration from this municipality! »
On the spot, The duty found that the lawn is well mowed. However, the interior of the building remains bare. Electricity was cut off. The places are unoccupied.
“The Stanstead town council was surprised, I think, that I answered them by getting a lawyer. And it’s not over ! I would have had a buyer maybe, but even there, the city made it so that I couldn’t even sell! »
Mr. Drolet-Massue told the To have to that he asked the municipality in 2013 to cut off the water for work, but that the master valves controlled by the city were reopened in his absence. “If my brother hadn’t happened to be there at the time, it was pure disaster. The city would want to harm the building that it wouldn’t otherwise. »
The MCC specifies that the “Wilder-Pierce building is of heritage interest for its historical value based on its age and on the various functions it has housed”, as well as for its particular architectural character. It would also be one of the oldest buildings of importance in Stanstead, a commercial and intellectual center of the 19th century.e century. The first owner of this residence, the wealthy American merchant Wilder Pierce, is at the origin of the development of the surroundings. North of 49e parallel, there does not seem to be, from coast to coast, an older customs building still standing.