The owner’s tour | An old church still standing

If the houses have a destiny, that of this former Presbyterian church in the Laurentians is possibly to remain standing. Saved from demolition by an artist in 1979, its resilience was again tested last May when the derecho passed through the region. She walked away without a scratch, although 32 trees fell on the grounds.

“Even if we live in a less spiritual society, maybe it’s a sign of something”, thinks aloud its owner, Diane Sable. She still remembers very well, and with great emotion, the day of May 23, when violent winds caused significant damage in the Laurentians. “It became white, like snow,” she says. Then the trees, some centuries old, began to fall. “There were four of them, one on top of the other, a foot from the veranda. My peonies, my blackcurrants, my maples, nothing has been damaged. »

That evening, the house served as a refuge for people who were stuck on the road, completely blocked. Throughout the summer, the owners worked to clear the land. Today, nothing seems to be there, apart from the stumps that dot the ground. While the disappearance of these trees has cleared up the screen that isolates the house from that of the neighbour, it has also allowed light to better penetrate the building.

Stroke of luck and heart

Diane Sable and her husband Philippe acquired this old church in 2013, on a stroke of luck and heart. They were then looking for a residence in Saint-Sauveur, a municipality they already lived in.

From the outset, it was the soul of this old woman, built piece by piece, that appealed to them. “The house sits on quartz,” she notes. We feel the energy. I also see all the efforts [mis dans sa construction]. Each nail was forged by hand. »

There is in this house the efforts of the first settlers of Britonville, as this sector of the township of Morin (today Morin-Heights) was called at the time, which straddled the border of the parish of Saint-Sauveur. In 1890, its inhabitants, who were mainly of English, Scottish and Irish descent, erected this small Presbyterian church in white clapboard. Abandoned, it was to be demolished when Jackie Robin Ferre, an artist from France, acquired it in 1979 to restore it, enlarge it and convert it into a house.

She had painted frescoes all over the walls, even inside the cupboards. Some are still visible today. In 2016, Diane Sable found her. “I absolutely wanted to thank her, then congratulate her on what she has done. I said to myself: “I had the privilege of living here, I absolutely have to thank her, it’s too beautiful.” »

Traces of the past

Although the church has been greatly transformed to fulfill new functions, its identity is revealed through the conservation of its original plank floors, its dark woodwork as well as its cathedral ceiling and its exposed beams. There is even the pastor’s cupboard, the interior of which is covered with silk, and next to it the wrought iron nail where, apparently, he hung his outfit.

From the outside, the broken arch impost that adorns the facade, the cross hanging near the entrance door and the bell tower openly express the building’s past.

The original area was modest: the church had only eight rows of pews and a sacristy. During the conversion, M^me Ferre added an extension that surrounds the original building on three sides. Upon their arrival, the current owners made some small renovations, in order to increase the storage capacity, in particular.

They have also invested a lot of time in the restoration of the garden, where in summer you can rub shoulders with perennial beds and fruit trees.

Also in the interior design, where each piece of furniture – although most of them already part of their collection – seems to have been chosen and placed with care.

” It’s a passion [avoir une maison ancienne], recalls Diane Sable. It can’t be ordinary love. There is nothing right, nothing that is the same. These are hours and hours of work. And when it’s over, we want another one. »

If they decided to leave, it is precisely to open their hearts to another old woman, located in L’Isle-aux-Coudres. Another home bought on a whim, while they were passing through Charlevoix for a wedding. They had never set foot on this island, which can only be reached by ferry, and they chose to settle there. Another love that cannot be ordinary.