Church may become flats or old folks’ home
The Catholic diocese is considering turning a massive Hochelaga church into either cheap housing or an old folks’ home, and dismantling its huge Casavant organ which many people hoped to keep in the building for future concerts.
I see one big flaw here: a church is a tricky kind of building to turn into apartments. It took a long time and a lot of money to turn Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix (at the corner of Saint-Zotique and Saint-Laurent) into a condo building. The resulting flats were clearly never going to be cheap. So I think it’s disingenuous for the Catholics to pretend they’re making a charitable gift. If that church becomes apartments, they’ll be luxury ones – especially given that it’s been closed because the structure is becoming unsafe. Much more expensive than building from scratch.
Maybe it’s time to talk about taking some of these churches down?
Virginia 12:19 on 2010/09/30 Permalink
I’m all for luxury housing in Hochelaga, if that is the worse-case scenario. It’s one neighborhood that could benefit from would-be Plateau-dwellers living next door, encouraging other condo owners to move there as well. The community could become safer. Secondly, I much prefer church-style architecture to the rectangular condo structures being built today. I think this landmark structure beautifies the neighborhood. There is an intrinsic and historical value in keeping this structure.
As for the Casavant organ, I heard there was talk of it being moved to another church for future use if someone picks up the cost of having it moved, which is easy enough. Moreover, the organ is not doing much good as it is, seeing as the church closed its doors over a year ago.
DC 13:02 on 2010/09/30 Permalink
Church re-use should start with looking at the attributes the buildings possess. Big floor plates and large interior envelopes would suggest offices, gyms, schools, or large retail stores, not residential use.
It’s troubling that the archdiocese and the religious orders are so solidly wedded the idea that residential conversions are their best or only strategy for re-use — building high-end housing (which, as you noticed, is more or less the only financially realistic residential option) is a pretty high-risk endeavor in a low-wage town. They’re opaque institutions, so there’s a lot of kremlinology involved in second-guessing their decisions, but it suggests that they haven’t thought much about different ways of getting value out of what they don’t need anymore.