Residents band together to save Hull presbytery from wrecking ball

Residents, heritage advocates and a handful of former councillors are banding together in an effort to save a 116-year-old religious building in Old Hull from demolition.

The former Très-Saint-Rédempteur presbytery is the second-oldest presbytery, or parish priest's house, in Gatineau's Hull sector.

It once was home to the first Bishop of Gatineau.

However, it's been endangered ever since its owners got permission late last year to demolish the structure so that they could expand Residence de l'Île, the seniors' complex that now calls it home.

"It's important for the neighbourhood. It fits in with the context. We still have the old historic homes from the parish next to it," said Micheline Lemieux, president of the Aylmer Heritage Association.

Letter in local paper

Lemieux was one of a dozen advocates who signed a letter published Jan. 26 in local French-language newspaper Le Droit calling for council to protect the building from the wrecking ball.

She said Saturday that the former presbytery has historic value for all residents of Gatineau — not just those who live nearby.

"It's one of the only buildings of that [period] that's still standing. They had fires, they had demolitions, expropriations," she said.

"So I think it's important to save [it]."

Many of the presbytery's original features were significantly altered more than two decades ago, when it was first converted into a retirement home.

Kate Helwig, another signatory to the letter, told Radio-Canada that the presbytery stands as a testament to the long history of the Saint-Rédempteur Catholic parish.

"The original parts of the building date from 1902, and it's the only part of the parish that remains because the church burned down in 1915 and wasn't rebuilt until the 1960s," she said.

"A lot of people are attached to this building, and we feel that [for] the developer who wants to tear it down … there are other options." 

One of those options could include expanding the retirement home onto nearby surface-level parking lots, Helwig said.

The former presbytery is owned by the Katasa Group, which has argued that the building's demolition would allow for the expansion of the current retirement home from 35 rooms to about 100.

Katasa filed an application to tear down the presbytery in March 2017, which was given the go-ahead by the city's demolitions approval committee in October.

However, the committee later agreed to a request that a new heritage assessment of the building be undertaken.

In poor condition, owners say

Katherine Choweri, the property manager for the Katasa Group, told Radio-Canada in a French-language interview Saturday that the building's foundation and windows are both in poor condition.

The presbytery's wooden structure would also pose a risk to residents if there were a fire, Choweri said.

"The city asked us twice to do various studies to ensure that the building was not heritage. Both studies came back negative," she said.

Gatineau city council is expected to meet Feb. 13 to set a date where both sides can present their arguments.