As old barns disappear from the landscape of the Quebec countryside at high speed, there are people who pose as saviors of these buildings.
Urban planner Robert Mayrand, who is an advisor in land use planning and heritage at the MRC des Maskoutains, in Montérégie, explained to us in an interview that the disappearance of these old agricultural buildings is often due to the fact that they no longer meet the needs of contemporary farming “and [qu’] from the moment there is a maintenance deficit, the structure will be affected, it will weaken or it will collapse”.
Saviors
But, there are barn saviors who are keen to preserve these architectural icons, both for utilitarian purposes and for viewing pleasure.
Bernard Lajoie, a resident of Sainte-Hélène-de-Bagot, between Saint-Hyacinthe and Drummondville, has restored several barns in his lifetime.
A dozen years ago the septuagenarian bought one in Pierreville, about fifty kilometers from his home, which he moved to Saint-Hugues, a neighboring village of Sainte-Hélène.
“We took it all apart, piece by piece, and numbered it, everyone said I was crazy,” recalls Mr. Lajoie, laughing. His carpenter cousin had helped him in this adventure.
Now he wants to complete the restoration of another barn he owns, in Saint-Simon-de-Bagot. He plans to do so next spring.
In Lanaudière, in Crabtree, near Joliette, on the other side of the river, Gilbert Nicole has owned a small farmhouse with his wife since 1982, which includes a large barn of 5,770 square feet.
Photo courtesy: Gilbert Nicole
“We always wanted to keep it, it’s more the bucolic and poetic aspect of the thing that motivates us, told us Mr. Nicole. We must have invested about $100,000 in it over the decades.”
Samuel Pépin-Guay, co-owner of Linéaire Écoconstruction, a company in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, is a different kind of barn savior: his company designs and manufactures old wooden frames using traditional techniques.
“Barns, we do quite often, as much for restoration or new constructions, always according to old mortise and tenon techniques.”
Mr. Pépin-Guay told us that he is currently working on a project with a resident of the Charlevoix region who has a heritage-listed barn, but part of the roof of which has collapsed due to snow.
“The idea is to salvage what’s left and rebuild a roof that would be done with old techniques to give back a bit of the original look.”
Photo courtesy: Linear Ecoconstruction
Initiatives therefore exist, but beyond that, there is the place and the role that they occupy or that they could be called upon to occupy.
“As long as we limit uses to agricultural uses for old farm buildings, we will continue to lose old buildings,” says urban planner Robert Mayrand, adding that with the Act respecting the protection of the territory and activities agricultural, “the possible uses in the agricultural zone are strictly regulated and must be substantially linked to agriculture”.
According to him, “the best solution would be to review the regulations and make it possible to adapt the uses to the local agricultural reality, by introducing and possibly authorizing new non-agricultural uses, complementary to agriculture, but which do not come to destructure or weaken the agricultural area.
We can think of barns that would be used by landscaping companies, vehicle storage and parking services, for artists’ studios or for interpretation centres.