The first church was built of stone in 1713. A second replaced it in 1746. In 1848, about a century later, a new one was proposed. The reconstruction of the steeple on two occasions indicates the poor condition of the church at that time.
The third church was delayed until 1858 in order to commission architect Victor Bourgeau (1809-1888) to draw the plans. Subsequent delays postponed the construction until 1868. Then, when the contractor left in 1870, architect Alcibiade Leprohon became associated with the project, which continued until 1876 under a new contractor, François-Xavier Archambault. Work was carried out on the interior decoration from 1879 to 1881. On April 17, 1881, a fire started in the old church and spread to the new one, which was nearly completed, destroying them both. Construction of a replica was undertaken the same year, with the same crew. Construction ended in 1885, but the church was open to worshippers as early as 1883.
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View of the pulpit and main altar. |
The 1858 project came a few years after the construction of St. Peter the Apostle Church in Montreal, which first brought Bourgeau to the attention of the public. St. Joachim was completed towards the end of his career as he was finishing the interior decoration of Notre Dame Basilica.
The vertical lines of the neo-Gothic building make it particularly imposing; especially in the prominent tower of the facade and in the buttresses that stand at intervals along the side walls. The building is perfectly symmetrical. All the openings – windows, niches and portals – are gothic arches. The building in bossed gray stone has bush-hammered freestone frames and ornaments. The ridge roof is covered in tin, as is the octagonal spire. A statue of St. Joachim dating from 1935 is enthroned in the central niche, replacing an earlier one, installed in 1871.
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Young Jesus, detail of the bas-reliefs from the Paschal candlestick |
The interior has successfully withstood the pressures of modernism and is representative of its period. It is all the more remarkable for its pristine state of preservation. The sculpted decorations include a rich repertoire of motifs – dentils, quatrefoils, beads, pinnacles, colonnettes, trefoils and pendants – which give it life. It was restored from 1963-1964, then again in 1987.
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