A group of concerned citizens is trying to save a century-old church in Montreal that is home to Casavant Opus 600. The Très Saint Nom de Jésus Church in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve was ordered closed by fire officials in 2009. The provincial government has refused to classify the church as a heritage or cultural site, and the archdiocese of Montreal is hoping to sell the land.
The archdiocese says keeping the church is too expensive, with $100,000 in annual heating and maintenance costs, and has proposed tearing down the church and turning the site into public housing. The mayor of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve has said that the city council will not grant a permit for the building to be turned into public housing.
Philip Crozier, who has played the Quebec-built pipe organ, said moving the instrument would ruin it. “(The organ) is one of the best in Montreal. If it is moved, it loses half its charm,” said Sylvie Poirier, who has recorded on it with her husband, Philip Crozier, music director at St. James United Church.
Moving the organ would cost an estimated $800,000. Adding that amount to the estimated $1 million to demolish the church would be a solid basis for developing it as a performance space, activists said. A benefit concert to save the church took place on October 22 at College Maisonneuve.
The committee announced a proposal to transform the church into a performance space to be called Maison de l’orgue, which could also become a repository for organs that are no longer used by institutions. The organ comprises 70 stops, 95 ranks, and 6,000 pipes; it was recently restored at a cost of $650,000 and is valued by the committee at $2.5 million.
The church interior includes paintings by Georges Delfosse, stained-glass windows from Limoges, France, 14 frescoes by Toussaint-Xenophon Renaud, and sculptures by Alexandre Carli.
