St. Lambert Masonic Temple to finally become a cultural centre

Interesting news from St. Lambert in October that the old Masonic Temple is finally going to be renovated.


Carte postale International Fine Art., Collection Michel Pratt, from the south shore history site, marigot.ca.

According to an article by Arpon Basu in a local paper not available online, the announcement, at the final meeting of the previous St. Lambert Town Council, came as a surprise to council observers. This after years of indecision on the project, which could serve as a 'Dummies' guide on how to take a situation with great potential and achieve nothing.

My interest in this project is due to the fact that the former (and now future) Masonic Temple, which was originally built as the St. Barnabas Anglican Church, has been envisioned as a cultural centre for a number of years now. We actually toured the building ourselves with a real estate agent retained by the Masons many years ago.

This kind of a project, located in such an historic and attractive building in a key strategic location in the middle of the St. Lambert village, could have been (and still could be) a godsend for artists and cultural groups from St. Lambert and all over the Montreal region, Quebec and Canada. Under the new agreement, the building will be re-acquired from the city by the Freemasons, renovated by them to the tune of at least $500,000 and leased to the City of St. Lambert for $50,000 a year. The building will be used again as a Freemason lodge, however the city will have full access to the premises on a reported 24/7 basis.

Why did this not happen 15 years ago or longer, when the Freemasons first started looking into trying to sell the building? Who knows, exactly? Anyway, the city finally did acquire the building around 10 years ago and there were plans worked up to convert the whole thing to a cultural centre at great expense. Certain funding opportunities were apparently at hand, according to a conversation I had a few years ago with former St. Lambert city councilor Marc-Andre Croteau. However, among other things, the Parti Quebecois' city merger program got in the way.

Parti Quebecois forced merger with Longueuil killed this project

St. Lambert was forcibly merged with the City of Longueuil and everything fell apart completely. Finally, the de-merger went through, and another few years later, we finally get a deal done.

Meanwhile, all the artists and performers are 15 years older and the building still hasn't changed a bit, excepting a couple of measures against the weather, and a portion that was condemned and demolished.

Children have grown up without access to this potentially wonderful facility. Somewhere there is a junior accountant or salesperson who might have been inspired to become the next Guy Laliberte. Somewhere there is a failed artist, making ends meet by housekeeping or raking lawns, who just needed that one opportunity for exposure that the Masonic Temple project might have offered them over the past 15 years. Somewhere there is a world-class artist who might have moved right into St. Lambert and inspired one and all with their virtuosity, if only there had been such a wonderful facility here.

Somewhere, there is a phantom catalog, of all the exhibitions and concerts, plays and presentations, that might have been.



T.O.S.H., Qualicum Beach, B.C. - community owned multipurpose arts centre.

Here is a somewhat similar project, of which many variations exist in Canada, to give you idea of what might have been and what could still be. It is The Old School House, in Qualicum Beach, B.C.