St-Denis heritage building should remain in public domain, critics say

Quebec Solidaire and some community groups are asking the province to delay the sale of a landmark historical building on St-Denis Street.

Manon Massé, the MNA who represents the area, wants the building designated for public use, like the former Bon-Pasteur monastery on Sherbrooke Street.

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That building was transformed into affordable housing and condo units.

The property now in question, located at the corner of St-Denis and Cherrier, has been valued at $22 million.

It was built at the end of the 19th century for the Soeurs de la Providence, a nuns' order founded in 1843 by Émilie Gamelin.

The nuns established Montreal's Institut des Sourdes-Muettes there — an institution for the deaf and mute — which they ran until 1975.

The building was then sold to a Quebec government ministry in 1979. Until earlier this year, the building housed the CSSS — the administrative offices of the Quebec health care and social services agency.

The Institut Raymond-Dewar, a rehabilitation centre for the hearing impaired, still occupies a part of the building, though the centre is expected to move out at some point in the future.

For 30 years, the building has also been home to the Centre de petite enfance Lafontaine, which cares for 138 children, most of whom are hearing-impaired.

Héritage Montréal has criticized the province for taking a piecemeal approach with no overall vision, pointing to the old Saint-Sulpice library down the street.

The government also tried to put that building up for sale, but later suspended those plans and, in May, said it was forming a committee with representatives from the city to identify possible uses for the building and ensure its sustainability.