“It has never happened that all buildings of perceived or minor value have this minimum level of protection against demolition,” said Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, elected member of Quebec City’s heritage executive committee.

In the state capital, the screw is still tightening. On Tuesday, the city council passed an ordinance that provides for more comprehensive preservation of monuments throughout the city. Quebec wants to ensure at all costs that “increased protection against demolition” is provided.

“It’s about making sure that there is no catastrophe,” summarizes it in the interview Sun the municipal council responsible for the file in the mayor’s team.

Especially in the outskirts, the city is expanding its range of listed buildings. With his new Regulation amending the Commission d’urbanisme et conservation de Québec Regulations in relation to multiple locations of buildings of known or suspected heritage valueThe Marchand administration guarantees the protection of 1,474 buildings that have not previously received protection.

The latter, which are considered to be of good or low historical value, can no longer be demolished without first submitting a request from the owners to the Commission d’urbanisme et de conservation de Québec (CUCQ).

“While we wait to perfect our knowledge of our entire portfolio of listed buildings, we make sure we do not overlook any buildings that are of outstanding or outstanding historical value,” explains Ms. Coulombe. – The Duke.

Previously, we had to say “yes” to a demolition request that involved an uninventoried building or whose knowledge was limited, she says.

“We are talking here about protecting buildings from potential accidental demolition requests. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but it does mean it has to pass the CUCQ filter,” says Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc.

Having overseen the occupation and maintenance of buildings, the City of Quebec is taking on this new lever as it waits to receive a full inventory of its built heritage over the next few years.

“We don’t want there to be a situation where there is a home of exceptional or greater value that we have not inventoried, a demolition application is made and we are obligated to grant the permit without there being a filter “, indicates the elected representative of the district of Cap-aux-Diamants. “We have come to create a little protective wall for ourselves, to be able to ask ourselves the right questions when a demolition application is made for a building built before 1940, whether its value has been confirmed or not not.” “

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In general, according to Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, “collective” concern for heritage is strong in Quebec.

Unlike in recent decades, the demolition of listed buildings in this old town is no longer like a letter in the post.

“People’s interest is a testament to the exceptional character of our city’s heritage. It shows that it is a calling card and part of the identity of our city. »

— Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, Director of Heritage at the Quebec City Executive Committee

“In the last 25, 30 years we have destroyed the legacy. Recently, people are more interested in listed buildings. We want to be exemplary, especially because the City of Quebec is the only, if not the only, city in Quebec with the highest concentration of listed buildings,” she said.

The recent case of 45 Avenue Sainte-Geneviève, which the city destroyed due to the dangers linked to the structure’s instability, is just one example. The disappearance of the historic Heart House, built in 1896, sparked an outcry in Old Quebec.

But Québec was working to limit the demolitions long before this widespread situation, we are assured, and we speak of a “continuation of initiatives already underway.”

Mayor Bruno Marchand has pledged to release full details of the events leading up to the demolition of the centuries-old home before the summer.

The Ministry of Education keeps a close eye on the file. In a written statement to Sun, He says he is “continuing his exchanges with the City of Quebec to fully understand all the circumstances surrounding this demolition and to prevent similar situations from happening again in the future.”