City ponders future for massive Plateau buildings
The city is weighing options for the massive, unoccupied Institut des Sourdes-Muettes building on St-Denis in the Plateau as well as the old Soeurs de la Miséricorde building (I believe it’s this one down St-Hubert). They still belong to the province, which would like to hand them over to the city – but Montreal needs to have plans, and both buildings would need extensive modernization.
Since we’re short of school buildings, one or both of these buildings might come in handy. We’d need teachers to staff them, though.
…On considering, what was happening here in the 19th century to require two massive buildings – this one on St-Denis at Roy, and the other up St-Laurent north of Jean-Talon, now condos? – to educate deaf students? Here’s a piece on the city’s official site that answers part of the question, at least: boys and girls had to be educated separately, according to the mores of the times.
dwgs 09:28 on 2019-08-29 Permalink
Also, if it was anything like Ontario all the deaf kids in the province were shipped to a central school. My nephew was sent away to school in Belleville from northern Ontario at the age of maybe 8 or so.
Kate 11:31 on 2019-08-29 Permalink
Right. They were residential. The one at 7400 was condemned for child sexual abuse awhile back – priests and boys. I don’t know whether anything like it happened with the girls.
Ian 15:23 on 2019-08-29 Permalink
The clerics of Saint Viateur founded that one, and as I recall the sex abuse was around boys but the violence wasn’t gender exclusive. A dark bit of Quebec history there that needs to be remembered. Legault is making a big deal about the funny hats but we all know it wasn’t people in hijabs raping children in schools.
jaddle 08:18 on 2019-08-31 Permalink
They’ve been considered for temporarily housing FACE during that school’s planned renovation.