Unusual tie brings uncertain future for historic Aylmer Road home 

Taylor Clark

The saga of the century-old house facing demolition at 674 Aylmer Road continues to the Superior Court of Québec after the Gatineau municipal council was met with an unprecedented 10 to 10 tie on February 20.

“We didn’t see many (ties). This is really a question where we are at another level. We are no longer at the political level,” Mario Aubé, president of Comité consultatif d’urbanisme and Comité exécutif, told reporters on February 21 during a press scrum.

Despite the pleas to preserve the 104-year-old home, the Comité sur les demandes de démolition came to the decision in October 2023 to demolish the single-family home to construct 32 housing units in the Mitigomijokan district.

Four months later, the municipal council was faced with an appeal to overturn the demolition request which was ultimately rejected as it did not receive majority support.

In theory, the rejection would mean the demolition of the historic home, but the tie muddies the waters on whether the demolition would move forward.

“For the future, I think there is a little legal work to be done,” former Gatineau mayor France Bélisle said on February 21.

A declaratory legal judgement would be necessary, said Bélisle, as there was currently no case law for this specific case.

According to Gatineau’s communication services, the City mandated a lawyer from an external firm to start the necessary procedures. Based on a preliminary assessment, it appeared that it may take up to a year before a decision is reached by the Superior Court of Québec. In the meantime, the City will refrain from making any decision on the matter.

“I want to protect the heritage, historical, and landscape character of Aylmer Road and this century-old house is part of that …” Mitigomijokan district councillor Anik Des Marais said in favour of preserving the house located in her district. “This house constitutes a tangible witness to the rural past of the area.” 

A professional analysis by the Service de l’urbanisme et du développement durable deemed the home to have a strong heritage value and proposed to protect 674 Aylmer Road. It also recommended building the housing units, but behind the century-old house.

“An architect engineer specializing in heritage said it was possible to renovate this house,” said Des Marais.

While the issue could be considered a question of density versus heritage, Hull-Wright district councillor Steve Moran said it was truly a matter of heritage versus no heritage.

“Density is possible because we can build the same number of units on the same site. So, heritage is threatened by our inability to protect it, not by densification in this case,” said Moran.

Although the building dates back to 1920, the house was not listed on the City’s 2008 inventory and classification of built heritage.

“Of course, it was built on land which retains its characteristics of a rural area but today it remains alone in its environment, surrounded by buildings of three, four floors in contemporary style,” argued Aubé. Though the building may possess some character from its era, the Masson-Angers district councillor said it has faded over the years.

Manoir-des-Trembles–Val-Tétreau district councillor Jocelyn Blondin said he tended to side with the recovery of buildings, but felt the home had passed the point of no return.

“There’s no longer any heritage character … I mean, are we going to build heritage or are we going to preserve it? For me, we preserve heritage, we don’t build heritage,” said Blondin.

The fate of 674 Aylmer Road will now lie in the hands of the Superior Court of Québec.

Photo caption: The decision to demolish a 104-year-old on Aylmer Road will be up to the Superior Court of Québec after a tie at Gatineau municipal council.

Photo credit: Ville de Gatineau