Located along the river, the municipality of Saint-Sulpice, not far from Repentigny, authorized the relocation of the Paul-Gouin house in order to allow the subdivision for a real estate development on the space occupied until then by this property of the former ally of Maurice Duplessis.
“We wonder a little who this Mr. Mercier-Gouin was,” explains Daniel Cousineau, director of services for the City of Saint-Sulpice. “But when you look a little, you see that he was a defender of heritage. It would have been frowned upon to demolish it, ”said the municipal officer, speaking of this house and explaining the decision, finally, not to accept its demolition, but to relegate it to a corner, near houses. recent. “The house remains on the same property for now,” he adds, while confirming that a major residential development project is underway.
Five houses will eventually occupy the site where the residence of this important politician, who was also the son of Prime Minister Lomer Gouin and grandson of Prime Minister Honoré Mercier, had been enthroned since the 1930s.
A “touch of cruelty”
According to historian Pierre Lahoud, known for his inventories of Quebec landscapes, “Paul Gouin was one of the first to make us aware of the importance of heritage, to document it, to make us aware of it”. A grand heritage award in his name should have been established long ago, he says. “It is unlikely that we let our house be packed down like this, as if the heritage in Quebec was mounted on wheels, that we could move it as we please! So the spirit of the place does not count for anything? It is unbelievable! “
The former rector of UQAM Claude Corbo has devoted work to Paul Gouin. It abounds in the same direction. “It’s sad, as for many heritage houses that we do not protect, but with here, in addition, a particular touch of cruelty, given the efforts that Gouin made, from the 1930s to the 1960s, to preserve Quebec heritage. “
Very early on, says Claude Corbo, Paul Gouin tried to explain to Quebecers the importance of highlighting places that distinguish them in America. “He is aware of the importance that tourism will take. To hoteliers, he recommends not to receive visitors in layers of what is found in the United States. He wanted to ensure a link between the past and the future, by focusing on the beauty of the place. Its immense collections ended up endowing the Musée du Québec when an institution in Detroit wanted to buy them. “His house, adjoined by a field stone turret, is part of the concern for the future that he tried to communicate to his family,” explains Claude Corbo.
The architect Parizeau
The Paul-Gouin house, with its traditional allure, is in fact the fruit of a free interpretation of the typical Quebecois house, according to the views of Marcel Parizeau, renowned architect, known above all for his modernism from the between two wars.
The Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) keeps the plans he made for the house of “Mr.e Paul Gouin ”. We see that the architect takes into account the location of the building, facing the river.
Parizeau was one of the rare Quebecers to complete his training at the École des beaux-arts in Paris. He spent ten years in Europe. We owe him, among other things, the construction of many houses in Outremont.
It is sad, as for many heritage houses that we do not protect, but with here, in addition, a touch of particular cruelty, given the efforts that Gouin made, from the 1930s to the 1960s, to preserve the Quebec heritage.
The residence of Saint-Sulpice “is not up to date,” points out Charles-Antoine Granger, the real estate agent responsible for selling the subdivided property. According to him, major renovations will have to be made in order to modernize it. “There are a lot of renovations to be done on the original property. “
Five plots of land are for sale. “Now the view of the river is completely clear. The five lots in the area are being cleared more and more, adds Mr. Granger, because “some buyers like it with trees, others don’t.” A few old oaks still rise to the sky.
According to Pierre Lahoud, we face in Quebec mentalities that maintain the sense of heritage at the level of the Quebec village of yesteryear or parking areas for old buildings. “It’s as if the places didn’t matter, that it was enough to put it all in a corner, away from reality. “
This house moved as if nothing had happened is in his view a sinister omen. “Gouin is a symbol for heritage in Quebec! It is important. It seems to me that it is as if we attacked both Gouin’s memory and the meaning we want to give to the preservation of our heritage. “
In a book she dedicated to Paul Gouin, the ethnologist Nathalie Hamel indicates that this lawyer doubled as a politician had the “will to preserve and display the French-Canadian cultural particularities and to use them as economic lever”. In 1950, during a conference on CKAC, Paul Gouin explained: “We can never replace the old churches and houses that we demolish, the old furniture and works of art that we let us burn or squander, the towns, the villages, the landscapes that we are in the process of forever disfiguring. “
No protection
Despite the importance of this residence, its creator and the one who occupied it, the Paul-Gouin house, with its skylights and finely crafted openings, has never been the subject of formal protection, nor of from the Quebec state or from the municipality. Along the Chemin du Roy, a commemorative plaque, of private initiative, for years briefly indicated the importance of the character and the places. This plaque has now disappeared.
Why has the municipality never cited this house to protect, under the law, its structure as much as its location on the river? “I have no idea,” replies Daniel Cousineau, from the municipality of Saint-Sulpice.
The municipality had been talked about a few months ago, while it was a question of demolishing an 18th century house theree century in which the ancestors of the legendary giant Beaupré lived.
A historical figure
In 1934, the Quebec government of Louis-Alexandre Taschereau showed signs of running out of steam. Lawyer Paul Gouin gathers around him dissident liberals and nationalists within the National Liberal Action (ALN). Maurice Duplessis’ conservatives will form a coalition with him to seize power. And against all expectations, Duplessis ended up swallowing the ALN within the National Union.
Gouin is sidelined. During the war, he made a brief return to politics in the Canadian Popular Bloc. But for the most part, he will henceforth devote the rest of his life to the promotion of history, heritage and popular arts, among other things as chairman of the Commission des monuments historique. He died in 1976.
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