A chapel that has become residential, the Monastery of the Augustines, the Auditorium of Verdun, a house mid-century : André Robitaille sets out to discover the beauty and diversity of Quebec’s architectural heritage in Well builda new television magazine broadcast on Télé-Québec.
You have to be a little crazy, certainly passionate, to buy an old farm house, built in the 18th century.e century, before the British Conquest of 1760. This is what a couple from Lévis and their single-parent friend did, who recently moved there with their children. The Pâquet house, listed as a heritage site, had been put up for sale four years previously and the owner had to considerably lower the price due to a lack of buyers. This residence, which we will discover in the third episode of Well buildtestifies to the fragility of heritage, the preservation of which is often held at arm’s length by a small group of enthusiasts, whom André Robitaille went to meet.
« Ces jeunes-là [les propriétaires de la maison Pâquet], they get up every morning and they talk about their house, they scratch their house, they find a handle, they screw something in, they redo a floor, they are always in there, says André Robitaille. This passion remains every day. I admit that this is a little beyond me. I don’t know if I would be able to do that. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY TRIO ORANGE
André Robitaille with Lester Toupin, artisan mason
Curious by nature
The facilitator of Children of TVwhich we saw during the winter in the series With a beating heart, does not live in an old house, but rather a modern condo in Montreal and a wooden chalet in Estrie, which he considers his “home”. If he agreed to take the helm of this documentary series, it was first and foremost out of curiosity. “I will never claim to know [le patrimoine bâti] and to be an expert, but I have always been interested in history, he confides. Who we were, who we are and who we are going to become, that intrigues me and that questions me a lot. I find that what is built can remind us and teach us who we are. I always had that eye, the curious eye. »
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Renovated with the aim of opening up to the public, the Monastère des Augustines has kept a strong link with the past.
He has also closely followed some restoration projects, such as that of the Monastère des Augustines, in Quebec, which was led by none other than his brother Denis, heritage project manager. “It really caught my attention 15 years ago when he got the keys to this place and was on a mission to save it. I am very proud of what he did. I was the first to visit that with him. » He returns there as part of the series, during an episode devoted to the marriage of the ancient and the contemporary.
Behind each building, there are those who live in it, frequent it, take care of it, and it is these human stories that are highlighted in Well build. Each episode portrays a craftsman who works to restore these buildings to their former splendor.
“There is a network that has developed because there are few of them,” emphasizes André Robitaille. There is something beautiful in that, in the transmission, the older people being surrounded by the younger ones. »
He gives the example of Lester Toupin, an artisan mason, also a restorer of hearths and chimneys, who works alongside his son Olivier. Touched by this story of transmission, the host even hired them to restore a “sow” from the 1940s, a wood stove left to him by his now deceased father, “pretty much the only thing he [lui] rest of him.” “It will cost me more, but emotionally, my father will heat the house. »
Living places to protect
PHOTO PROVIDED BY TRIO ORANGE
André Robitaille visits the author Audrée Wilhelmy and her heritage house.
Although it was erected tens, even hundreds of years ago, the built heritage is not static. He is alive. Throughout the episodes, many people say they are influenced, inspired, even inhabited by the places they frequent. André Robitaille remembers his meeting with Michel Martel, a man who saves old houses, and who explained to him how a house can dance with the changing seasons. “A house, for him, is someone, it’s something that lives. »
Living places, therefore, which must be protected, according to the host. “ [Le patrimoine bâti] is fragile, because if they are not there [ces propriétaires et artisans passionnés], it’s falling, he notes. In order not to lose sight of who we have been, who we are, who we will become, the built heritage must be saved. »
The same day of our interview, he was to meet the Minister of Culture and Communications of Quebec, Mathieu Lacombe, as part of an event and viewing organized by the ministry and Télé-Québec, at the Musée de la civilization. Was he planning to take advantage of this opportunity to convey this message?
“It would be pretentious to speak to the “I”, but I think the project will carry that message. […] On television, is this a show that will have high ratings and will make a lot of noise? I don’t know. But, at least, the relevance of the project is obvious,” replies the man who says he loves his medium when he is socially involved. “ Well build, it directly reflects the desire I have to continue doing this job. »
Well build, Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. on Télé-Québec. Complementary capsules to the series are also available on the Télé-Québec website.
Read the article from Duty about the Pâquet house
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