The mayor of Sept-Îles is ready to raze the town hall to expand the parking lot of the local hospital. In the opinion of several experts, this town hall is nevertheless an exceptional work, signed by a renowned architect: Guy Desbarats. But the mayor, Réjean Porlier, holds in low esteem this modern building in which the officers of his municipality have been housed for sixty years.
The town hall of Sept-Îles is considered to be of superior heritage interest, according to a report commissioned, at a cost of $ 16,000, by the municipality. Filed this spring by the Patri-Arch firm, this voluminous document was nevertheless kept secret by the city until December 14. Why did you wait so long to publicize this study? “We had kept it a bit,” admits the mayor to the Duty. “There, finally, we decided: look, we are quite advanced anyway. We’re going to let it go publicly. You can’t hold it too long either. Then, when the holidays return, not too far I hope, we will have everything in hand to make the decision. “
The mayor does not hide that his idea is made, even if he repeats wanting to consult the population according to the rules. In his opinion, the current town hall does not deserve any particular attention, neither for its architecture, nor for its historical character.
However, the expertise commissioned by the municipality indicates the opposite. It is stated, in full, after a long analysis, that we are undoubtedly in front of “one of the most important heritage buildings in Sept-Îles”. The report also emphasizes that this city on the North Shore “stands out above all for the quality of its modern built heritage”. And he puts City Hall at the top of that genre.
A stifled debate
Concerned about the bad fate that could be done to this building, the architectural technician Mario Dufour, a citizen of the city, protested. In his opinion, it is unthinkable for Quebec to allow such an architectural work to disappear. “It is obvious that we are dealing with an exceptional building, a symbol of modern architecture. The decision to destroy it and build a new one is almost taken, as if it were the least of things! The municipality is “abusing”, he said. “How is it that we have hidden until this study!” The debate has been hidden. And I cannot accept that. “Especially since the mayor’s argument in this case, in his opinion, is“ very weak ”.
In an interview, the mayor does not budge. The citizens, he said, have no interest in this building. “There are a few people… For them others, that is invaluable. I am a little surprised because Mr. Dufour nevertheless has a background in architecture. “However, this training should lead Mario Dufour, estimates the mayor, to understand that a new town hall, such as he envisages it, would have” a better positioning, a better visibility, a better value “. For his part, does the mayor have training in architecture? “No, but I work regularly with the people of town planning”. Syndicalist, employed by Hydro-Québec for thirty years, Réjean Porlier has been mayor since 2013. He published, that year, on the subject of the Crown corporation, a book entitled Legacy raiders.
Unloved town hall
Architect Phyllis Lambert, founder of the Canadian Center for Architecture, was quick to give her opinion. “Destroying a valuable building such as the town hall of Sept-Îles – a cultural asset and an essential symbolic public building – takes away such a relevant mark in the history of the city. The desire to install a parking lot in its place is an act of vandalism that goes against any social, cultural and urban concept, ”she writes.
The architect of the place, Guy Desbarats, was director of the School of Architecture of the University of Montreal and winner of several awards. Phyllis Lambert observes that the architectural expression of ARCOP, the firm behind the designs for the town hall, is major. It gives “character to the Canadian urban landscape”. From 1956 to 1962, recalls this luminary in the history of architecture, the firm ARCOP participated in major projects, including Place Ville-Marie, Place des Arts and Place Bonaventure in Montreal. ARCOP also designed the Confederation Center of the Arts in Charlottetown and, in Ottawa, the National Arts Center. “These great works are irreplaceable figures in their city, like the town hall of Sept-Îles since 1960,” says Phyllis Lambert.
The mayor of Sept-Îles does not flinch. “The town hall in Sept-Îles is not the town hall in Quebec City, even if it is marked that there is a heritage value. […] I will tell you that there has never been anyone who has stopped here to come and see me to visit the town hall. On the other hand, he adds, “a lot of people back home tell us ‘really hard’. Worse, not just hard because it has not been renovated … “
The mayor does not hide that, for financial reasons, his idea has been stopped. He estimates it would cost $ 10 million to restore the current building. Without documenting this assessment, he mentions asbestos and the significant costs that would be required to “restore heritage” to this building. With 10 million renovations, he says, “the heritage aspect is not included in that”. According to him, to restore the original heritage aspect, “with the marble worse with these things that there was at the time”, it would be necessary “to add more”. At the end of 2019, the mayor indicated rather that a renovation would cost 7 million.
This renovation, argues the mayor, would not, in any case, meet the needs of Sept-Îles. The new building he is thinking of would cost around 16 million, he told Le Devoir.
I will tell you that there has never been anyone who has stopped here to come and see me to visit the town hall.
Could the state’s desire to improve the services of the Sept-Îles hospital lead to the destruction of important cultural property? In any case, a destruction in favor of the hospital center is under discussion, confirms the mayor. The mayor reiterates that he is in discussion with the CISSS Côte-Nord for the acquisition of the town hall. In view of this upcoming sale, the municipality has even made the choice to invest at least in the maintenance of its town hall, as reported by the local weekly, The North Coast.
In the opinion of the firm Patri-Arch, “the town hall of Sept-Îles has sufficient heritage interest to obtain the status of cited heritage building”. However, Mayor Porlier does not accept this recommendation.
Has Sept-Îles already cited other buildings to help ensure their protection? “Not to my knowledge”, replies the mayor to Duty. “First of all, Sept-Îles is not such an old city either. We don’t have the buildings in Trois-Rivières, in Quebec, places where we have buildings that have lived through the years for a long time, worse which have something that you’re going to stop in front of by saying “wow , there is something beautiful there ”. “
The Ministry of Culture and Communications suggested that municipalities take charge of their heritage by helping them financially. The city of Sept-Îles did not see fit to follow up on this proposal. The mayor explains: “The Ministry of Culture offered to the MRC – not to the city, but to the MRC – to try to embark on a program to try to evaluate all that. Why did you refuse to participate in an exercise to assess the heritage of your city? “We said, well, we’ll reassess him later. “
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