Decades of Quebec art and history go up in flames in Montreal's West Island

Heritage advocates are struggling to understand why the famous home and workshop of a Quebec sculptor in Montreal's West Island was destroyed by a fire that broke out on Sunday night.

The house, built in 1951 and expanded in 1986, has historical value as it was once the living and creative quarters of Quebec sculptor Charles Daudelin until his death on April 2, 2001. 

Maison Charles-Daudelin, located at the intersection of Ste-Marie Road and de l'Artiste Street in a wooded area of a Kirkland residential neighbourhood, was engulfed in flames when firefighters responded at 11:38 p.m.

The building was vacant and the blaze was brought under control at 4:41 a.m. on Monday. The cause and circumstances of the event remain unknown, but Montreal's fire department noted that there's no evidence of arson.

Ariyaz Molanorouzi, a resident of the neighbourhood, had just put his phone down and was about to go to sleep when he noticed an unusual colour in the sky.

"Suddenly, in the sky, I see part of the sky is red," he said. "I just screamed at my brother: 'Get up, get up, there's a fire next to us!'"

The two brothers were convinced that the fire was nearby, but fortunately, it wasn't. They decided to venture into the neighbourhood to find out what was happening and filmed the scene. 

"The closer we got, the worse it got. There was so much smoke. It was hard to breathe at some point too and there were a lot of embers in the air," said Molanorouzi. 

In 2023, the house was designated a protected heritage site by Quebec's Ministry of Culture and Communications — along with the art studio, a former goat farm and a vast landscaped area attached to the home.

"Many people are celebrating for many reasons at this time of the year. This is a dark cloud on our celebration," said Dinu Bumbaru, policy director and spokesperson for the non-profit group Heritage Montreal. 

According to information from the ministry, the property carries great architectural weight, marked by the renowned architects — Jean-Louis Lalonde, Gordon Edwards and Charles Elliott Trudeau — who designed and contributed to its expansion. 

In 1951, Daudelin and his wife, Louise Bissonnette, built a modest house based on Trudeau's plans in the then rural parish of Saint-Joachim-de-Pointe-Claire. 

Over the years, Lalonde and Edwards were involved in numerous improvements to the site.

The 1986 extension work by Edwards, a natural and artificial lighting specialist, is largely responsible for the house's appearance before the fire. At the time, Daudelin had decided to create a workshop as his children had left the home.