Saint-Joachim Church National Historic Site of Canada

Key elements that contribute to the heritage character of the site include: - its location in the historic district in the village of Châteauguay; - the massing, rectangular footprint and metal-clad gabled roof with bell-cast eaves, the sacristy annex extending from the apse’s rear, and connecting passage at the apse’s south wall; - the coursed fieldstone exterior walls; - the monumental, symmetrical facade in a vernacular Baroque style expressed through simple ornament in its original dimensions and detailing including; a shaped gable with concave curved sides, capped by a shaped parapet, rising to a central point with a small statue of St. Joachim on a pedestal; - the two flanking three-storey towers with quoins, open metal-clad belfries and small spires with metal crosses and weathervanes; - the central main entrance, its fine stonework and classical ornamentation including the pediment and pilasters, the stone trim surrounding windows and doors; - the placement, design and materials of the arched doors and windows with wood, multi-paned glazing, the fan lights with radiating glazing bars, and the two bull’s eye windows, one oval and one round; - the open plan interior developed from the original 18th-century Maillou plan including the original, semi-circular apse and framework, the three-isled nave, false vaulted ceiling, and supporting pillars between nave and side-isles; - the interior decoration, mouldings, blind arcades, sculpture and furnishings; the cornice, the liturgical furniture including altars, the ornate main alter-piece, reredo, pulpit, chandeliers, ambon and credence table, also the tabernacle and altar table by Amable Gauthier, the baptistery, the churchwarden’s pew, the sculpture, bas-releifs, religious paintings and marouflage applied paintings attached to the interior, including pieces by Phillipe Liébert, Joseph Dynes, Edourd Meloche, Gauthier and Renaud.