Guides' Favourites: The Institute of Nazareth

Who are you?

My name is Laure Barrachina. I have been a volunteer guide for Heritage Montreal for 10 years. I am a cultural mediator in the cultural and museum world. This year, I am replacing Heritage Montreal's Director of Programs and Activities during her maternity leave. 

Your stop  

Preparing for ArchitecTours Montréal's 2020 season at school! Knowledge architecture, one institution caught my attention and curiosity, the Institut Nazareth, which specializes in teaching the blind. It occupied three successive buildings in Montreal before becoming the Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille and moving to Longueuil.  

A first institute in the faubourg Saint-Laurent 

The Nazareth Institute was founded in 1861 by the Sulpician Benjamin-Victor Rousselot with the collaboration of the Grey Nuns. A first building, the Asile Nazareth, was built on Sainte-Catherine Street, between Jeanne-Mance and Saint-Urbain Streets, to welcome the children of the working class families of the neighbourhood. In 1870, Rousselot had a new wing built to accommodate blind children. A chapel united the two buildings. It is designed by the architect Victor Bourgeau and adopts a neo-Romanesque style recognizable in particular by the semicircular arches above the openings. The interior decoration was entrusted to Napoleon Bourassa.  

The school is a pioneer as it is the first specialized school for the blind in Canada. As early as 1865, Braille, a tactile writing system invented by Louis Braille in the 1820s, was taught there. The students received theoretical instruction, but also technical training, such as basketry classes. Soon, music was also integrated into the curriculum.  

At the beginning of the 20th century, this first building became too small in view of the growing success of the Institute. In 1932, the administration decided to move to a new building in the Côte-des-Neiges district. The former Institute then housed an orphanage and a home for young offenders (Institut les Buissonets then Institut Dominique-Savio) before being demolished in 1958 to make way for Place des Arts. Some of Napoleon Bourassa's frescoes were removed from the walls and kept in the collection of the Museum of Saint Joseph's Oratory.  

The Nazareth Institute on Queen-Mary 

In 1931, the new institute was built at 4565 Queen Mary Road in the heart of the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood. At that time, the neighbourhood was experiencing rapid urbanization and growth. The quiet, green setting, still isolated from the city, attracted religious congregations, educational institutions and hospitals. Several large institutions settled there: Collège Notre-Dame (1871), Collège Marie-de-France (1909), Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf (1928), St-Mary's Hospital (1932), the Jewish General Hospital (1934) and the Université de Montréal, a little further east.  

Based on the plans of Alphonse Piché, the new institute has a U-shaped plan with imposing dimensions, inspired by conventual architecture. The façades adopt a classical composition. The white stone used for the base, window frames and cornice contrasts with the brown brick and accentuates the horizontality of the façade.  

The central part of the building is particularly elaborate, with a monumental entrance that rises on the first two levels of the building, framed by two slight projections on the façade. The use of white stone underlines each element: the framing and pilasters around the door, the two triangular pediments at the top and the decorative elements on the cornice in line with the entrance. 

Soon the building proved to be too large and its maintenance generated financial problems for the Institute. Concentrating its mission on the education of school-age children, the Institute moved in 1940 to Chemin Saint-Michel, now Crémazie Boulevard. The building was leased to the Canadian Department of National Defence and became a training centre for the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. It was converted into a hospital for Veterans Affairs in 1946 and renamed Queen Mary Veteran's Hospital. Today it is home to the Institut de Gériatrie de l'Université de Montréal.  

Latest moves 

The Institut Nazareth moves to 1460 boulevard Crémazie Est. The two buildings are very similar. We find the same U-shaped plan and the horizontality of the facade. This one is however much more sober. White stone is used for the base, the window lintels and some discreet ornamental effects between the 3rd and 4th floors. The centre of the facade is also highlighted here, but in a more modest way, with the projecting entrance and a large pediment at the top. 

Starting in the 1950s, the range of services for the deaf became more diversified and specialized. The Rousselot Institute welcomes young women who intend to become teachers. In 1953, Louis-Braille School opened its doors to young blind boys in Westmount. In 1975, the Institut Nazareth and Louis-Braille School merged to form the Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille, which moved to Longueuil. 

One last piece of advice 

Stroll through Côte-des-Neiges to discover the wealth of school and hospital architecture around the Côte-des-Neiges metro station.