St. Anne church, St. Clement Parish - Integrated Project Dossier (2013)

St. Anne Church Is situated in the Lower Town East community at 528 Old St. Patrick Street. The area is predominately a tightly knit, Roman Catholic, French speaking residential community. Lower Town East was deemed the birthplace and capital for housing the city's fur trade. industry. Although French traders taught Scottish fur entrepreneurs, the voyageurs remained French, thus Ste Anne was considered the Patron Saint of fur traders. Each year fur traders made an annual voyage from Montreal up to the Ottawa and French Rivers, continuing beyond into the Georgian Bay, Lake Superior and the West. The first corner stone was laid on May 4th 1873 by Bishop Guigues, and inaugurated on November 30th 1873 as the first Francophone parish in Ottawa. J.P.M Lecourt was appointed the architect in designing St. Anne Church, deliberately choosing the Quebecois Tradition style as a means of creating a space wholly for a French--speaklng parish. From Its initial construction, the church has undergone numerous alterations. In the fall of 1893, under the leadership of parish priest Rev. Philippe Beauchamp, lateral galleries were removed, resulting in the enlargement of the transepts and the sanctuary. The church interior also underwent renovations and decoration before it was re-inaugurated on February 24, 1894. The first restoration of the church was completed in 1907 under the leadership of Msgr. Joseph-Alfred Myrand. It is noteworthy that Msgr. Myrand was appointed priest in 1903 and remained in position until his death in 19491 by which his body was buried in the basement to commemorate his profound contributions to St. Anne churoh. When the church was restored in 1907, many parishioners and associations donated stained-glass windows that. still today, represent some of the finest examples of sacred art in this country. Msgr. Myrand had the old spire replaced by an openwork bell tower and two pinnacle turrets were added on the fa9ade corners. A four-bell carillon, cast by the Paccard firm, from Savoie (France), was blessed on December 4, 1910. In 1923 the parishioners decided to execute another restoration-this time to replace faded glass in the chancel's windows. On December 21 st 1930, Msgr. Myrand gives the church an impressive set of Murano crystal chandeliers from Venice, Italy. For the next decade, ongoing renovations were completed, the last of which finished in 1948. Nearly twenty years late􀁒. 1965, churchwardens are informed of urgent repairs that must be executed to the building. Architect Jean-Serge Lefort was hired for developing a complete renovation proposal in 1966. Restoration was executed in 1967, which involved the reparation of the main roof trusses , an addition of a basement and mechanical room below the sanctuary, as well as the installation of a reinforced concrete slab to replace the old timber floor. Although unfinished, parishioners returned to the church for services and on December 25th services were held in a completely restored and decorated church. In 1978, the City of Ottawa formally recognized the exterior of St. Anne church under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act by the City of Ottawa. In 1991 the church underwent another major restoration in refurbishing the stonewalls and foundation of the North, East and West sides of the church. Restorative work included stabilizing the structural integrity of the East and West transept walls, the repairing and waterproofing of the exterior foundation, as well as re-pointing mortar throughout the North, East and West facades. Upon completing the restoration, it was predicted that the restored areas would withstand repair for another twenty to thirty years. However, in March of 2009, the roof of the west transept wall unexpectedly collapsed Into the Interior of the church. Records Indicate, that over time the mortar in the joints and interior core deteriorated into sand due to moisture penetration and weathering, resulting in the two wythes moving apart and becoming unable to functions a load baring unit. The collapse left thirty square feet of debris and the church was deemed unsafe. During this time the church had to be closed to perform necessary repairs, while parishioners were directed to other churches in the area. Jn 2010 the Ste. Anne reopened, however, a large portion of the church community did not return. Ultimately, parishioners left without hope of coming back and the magnificent esprit de corps the church once had was deeply affected. Renovations have contributed to the disappearance of a deeply knit community, ultimately destroying the social relationships and parishioner network. Conversely, this transformation has led to the awakening of a new social consciousness. A fresh and different parish spirit was evoked, through the welcoming of St. Clement's parish. Of all events that occurred in the last century, the urban renovation project had the greatest impact on the church and parish. This is the Integrated Project Dossier compiled by a group of undergrad students of the Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Program (Engineers and architects) at Carleton University for the CIVE3207 (ARCN4100) Historic Site Recording and Assessment course in 2013.