Right next door to the Centre Marie-Rose is a house. A house more than two hundred years old which, until the late 50s, was… somewhere else. Opposite the co-cathedral of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue, in fact.
Built in 1812 by a certain Dominique Rollin (who was only able to enjoy it for three years, dying at the age of 50), the house has had multiple vocations over the years and centuries: Fabrique school, first school-house of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, community hall, beadle’s lodgings, registry office, Electricity Museum. Then, in 1959, the Caisses populaires Desjardins chose this location to open a branch, giving rise to a project as monumental as it was delicate: the bequest and relocation of this heritage jewel further down the same street.
The house was dismantled stone by stone and then reassembled, stone by stone, on the SNJM heritage site. Like an incredibly complex Lego set. Called the Maison de Fondation by the sisters, but better known today as the Maison Marie-Rose Durocher, the little building has been considered a historic site since 1960. So there’s no risk of it being moved again…