The revelation on Friday April 4 by Le Devoir of the decision by the Minister of Education to abandon the renovation project and sell the FACE* school building for budgetary reasons, came as a surprise and provoked strong reactions; for example, a petition on the National Assembly website gathered over 10,000 signatures in two weeks!
These illustrate the strong collective attachment to the school, both for its unique arts-based curriculum and for the building of the former Montreal High School, designed by the Maxwell brothers and inaugurated in 1914, which has housed it and its hundreds of elementary and secondary students, both French and English, since 1975.
Héritage Montréal been contacted by numerous members, parents, and citizens concerned about this deplorable situation and the lack of information justifying this decision, apart from the estimated cost of $375 million for this long-planned operation.
What does this impressive sum correspond to? Have we really tried to reduce costs by adapting the curriculum and school standards to this heritage building rather than imposing them on it at great expense?
Moreover, the school is owned by the gouvernement du Québec , which included it in the Mount Royal declared heritage site decreed in March 2005. It is therefore protected by the government, including the Ministry of Education, which seems unaware of this responsibility. This inconsistency is reminiscent of the findings of the Auditor General of Quebec in her 2020 audit on the protection and enhancement of real estate heritage.
Finally, it is to be feared that abandoning this building and putting it up for sale, in addition to its impact on the future of F.A.C.E., will add to the number of disused public or institutional buildings. The hope that the real estate market will solve the challenge of safeguarding this heritage building, including certain interior spaces such as the remarkable auditorium, belies its real capacity to carry out so many large-scale requalifications in the short term. In short, the best use for this protected heritage building remains that of a school.
Héritage Montréal therefore Héritage Montréal that this decision be suspended and that the architects and other professionals involved in the project be duly mandated to identify ways to reduce the project's costs, including by adapting the program and standards to the heritage building.
(*) F.A.C.E. for Formation artistique au cœur de l'éducation / Fine Arts Core Education
2 comments
In the olden days, the elders used to say: ... "if you want to get rid of your dog, you say it has rabies". Now that we've brought it back into line with our heritage, we can take that phrase and say: ...". If you want to get rid of your building, you watch to see if a small pebble falls, and if it does, you wrap the edifice in vast nets that make the good people fear that collapse is imminent"!
Our society no longer knows how to maintain its real estate. Simple, ongoing maintenance can prolong the life of a building for a very long time.
Our society doesn't value our old buildings. It infantilizes them, just like the old people in nursing homes who are put in diapers because they can't get to the toilet fast enough!
Marie-Hélène Voyer's book deals with Quebec's propensity to destroy its built heritage and develop its territory in a haphazard manner, trashing the landscape with buildings that don't last and are unsightly. In addition to building with a uniform, monotonous architecture that uglifies our environment in the name of the unbridled development desired by developers. Profitability first, and to hell with preserving the beauty of our towns and villages. A contempt and denial of who we are. A damning portrait:
https://kollectif.net/actualites/publication-de-lhabitude-des-ruines-le-sacre-de-loubli-et-de-la-laideur-au-quebec-de-marie-helene-voyer/
https://lactualite.com/culture/ce-qui-se-cache-derriere-lhabitude-des-ruines-le-sacre-de-loubli-et-de-la-laideur-au-quebec/