chez doris launches campaign to raise $8 million to reopen the fulford residence
the 170-year-old former seniors home is being renovated to become a shelter for women in need.
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diane pilote, left, executive director of chez doris, stands just inside the main entrance of fulford residence with elise monaghan joubert, chez doris's director of philanthropy and director of communications marie-pierre grenier.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
a campaign by chez doris, a montreal organization that helps vulnerable and marginalized women, is underway to raise the $8 million needed to secure, restore and reopen the fulford residence, the landmark downtown building it acquired in may. for 131 years, fulford was home to generations of older, often vulnerable, women. it was forced to close in 2021, a victim of declining occupancy and the deaths from covid of 10 of its 31 remaining residents.
for a time as it stood vacant, the future of the building was uncertain. parties including concordia university were interested in buying it. in 2022, heritage montreal and its founding president, phyllis lambert, requested heritage protection for the guy st. building; it was granted in february.
the designation applies to the three-storey brick mansion, built around 1854, to the site and to elements of its interior deemed to be of “particular architectural integrity and interest,” including its stained-glass windows, woodwork and mouldings. its well-proportioned main rooms are in excellent condition.
all will be preserved and the floor plan will remain mostly untouched, said chez doris executive director diane pilote during a tour of the venerable building this week. and its vocation of helping vulnerable women will continue.
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the plan is for chez doris to consolidate services and programs at the fulford residence: its day centre, for instance, will move from its current location on chomedey st. and the chomedey st. building will be repurposed — possibly as an emergency shelter, pilote said. a 24-bed overnight shelter opened by chez doris in 2022 is always full, she said.
at fulford, clients will have access under one roof to front-line services, programs and support teams. twenty of the 38 bedrooms will serve as transitional housing for three to 24 months. the rest will be converted to office space to accommodate support programs offered by chez doris, including housing and financial management programs.
the commercial kitchen in the basement of the fulford. there is a small service kitchen on the main floor, just off the main dining room. both kitchens are connected by a dumbwaiter, a small freight elevator, and both are in good condition.
dave sidaway
/
montreal gazette
the spacious dining room, with its high coffered ceilings, can accommodate 120 women — up from 80 on chomedey st. — for three daily meals. the commercial kitchen in the basement and the service kitchen off the dining room are in fine condition.
the large community room, once a parlour, will serve as a multi-purpose space for activities such as lectures and games. there will be a health care suite on the main floor and space, also on the main floor, for computers and telephones for clients.
“i call this building ‘a grande dame,'” said elise monaghan joubert, chez doris’s director of philanthropy. “she just needs a bit of love.”
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the crumbling wooden second-floor veranda must be replaced and brought up to code, for one. same for the electrical, plumbing and ventilation systems. a new elevator is needed. so are laundry facilities. an extension is planned at the rear for shower facilities and a clothing room on the main floor, warehouse storage space in the basement and a second staircase. the bathrooms will be renovated.
being in the gracious building “will give our women a sense of dignity as they walk through the doors,” monaghan joubert said. “this is not an institution. it is a home.”
overall cost for the project, including the building purchase and the work to update it, is $21 million. there is $7 million in confirmed investment from municipal, provincial and federal governments and $6 million in private philanthropic investment. a further $8 million is needed.
the hope, pilote said, is to raise the money over the next eight months and to start work by june, with plans to reopen fulford by 2027.
mila mulroney, wife of the late prime minister brian mulroney, has agreed to act as a chez doris ambassador and partner in reopening the fulford residence.
chez doris has received the 2024 governors’ award for heritage conservation from the national trust for canada, a charitable organization devoted to preserving and revitalizing historic sites.
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founded in 1977, chez doris has evolved and grown and today supports more than 1,500 vulnerable women each year with programs and access to housing. once fulford has reopened, pilote said the hope is for that number to increase to 2,000.
sixty per cent of the women who come to chez doris are unhoused. and the need only grows: 40 new women arrive each month on the brink of homelessness. many have mental health or addiction issues and have experienced trauma or violence, but some were suddenly unhoused: women who lost their jobs, were evicted and had nowhere to go. “madame tout-le-monde,” pilote said.
at a glance: chez doris will hold its annual holiday fair this year at the fulford residence, 1221 guy st., on sunday, dec. 1, from 1 to 4 p.m. items made by the women of chez doris including wool mittens, christmas decorations, indigenous jewelry, oven mitts and scented candles will be available for sale.
donations to chez doris can be made online or the administrative office can be reached weekdays at 514-937-2341.
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