Saint-Nicolas Heritage Site - Buildings and Characteristics - Historic Monuments

Historic Monuments

The Pâquet House (French: Maison Pâquet) is located at 1630, Marie-Victorin Road, and was built around 1760. It is a good example of French vernacular architecture. A long-façaded (over 90 ft) building, it was enlarged twice, once on each side of the original building, during its history (though the dates are not known precisely, the last addition was made before 1850). The dimensions of the original building are still very visible as they are markd by the position of the two chimneys. This size is in part attributable to the various uses the house has had: at some point a general store was located inside. The house is built using pièce-sur-pièce techniques where notched logs are piled horizontally, and covered with vertical wood sidings, with low foundations (compared with buildings of the 19th century and later) and a very tall roof. The ceiling lines are low, and a half-story is built under the roof, light by straight gable-fronted dormer windows on two levels, with the higher dormers much smaller. Said roof is straight, with little to no overhang, and covered in cedar shingle. All windows are divided in smaller square panes; those of the ground floor have external shutters. The original door was placed asymmetrically in regard to the building, and a carriage door is on the right side.

During the 19th century, the Pâquet House received many alterations to bring it more in line with the English-introduced styles that strongly influenced Quebec vernacular architecture; almost all these modifications were reverted when the building was thoroughly renovated in late 80s. The second row of dormer was re-added, the roof was straightened back, the roof overhang and a porch over the main entrance were removed. The Pâquet house has several dependencies, the major ones being a 1825 shed and a late 20s barn.

Opposite the house across the road is Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Chapel (French: Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Grâce) and its accompanying Hermitage. The chapel, built in 1867–68, lacks a separate civic number (it is part of the Pâquet House lot), whereas the adjoining Hermitage, now a private residence, is #1631. The chapel is a small Gothic revival building. Its structure is wooden and covered with bricks. The very steep roof is covered with shingles creating polychrome motives. All openings are ogive-shaped, and most wooden surfaces, such as those of the large square front porch, are elaborately carved. All four angles are marked with buttresses topped with tall (taller than the roof, in fact) wooden pinnacles. A small sacristy juts on the right side of the otherwise rectangular building. The inside decoration is just as elaborate, with fake wooden rib vault, glass- and plasterwork (the latter very frequent in Quebec 19th century religious architecture). Each corner has an alcove with a statue of a different saint (Sts. Nicholas, Joachim, Anne and Joseph); these statues were imported from Germany in 1871. The Chapel and Hermitage are surrounded by a dense cover of trees.