History
Étienne Pâquet was a descendant from one Philippe Pasquier, who came from France to Île d'Orléans. He left the island and came first to Saint-Sylvestre, Quebec, though he married in Saint-Nicolas in 1762, before coming to the latter village. He originally bought a lot on the second concession of Saint-Nicolas, which he swapped with owners from the Bergeron family (connected to the Bergeron House), thus acquiring the original house. The Pâquet family grw to include several important personalities, from mayors of Saint-Nicolas and prominent local businessmen to churchmen (Benjamin Pâquet, Louis-Honoré Pâquet and Louis-Adolphe Paquet), as well as provincial (Étienne-Théodore Pâquet) and federal (Eugène Paquet) politicians. The exact series of owner is not entirely clear, but by the late 19th century, it was the property of Étienne-Théodore Pâquet (father of the MLA). Neither his son nor his grandson used it much, and in the 20s it was sold to the Hébert family.
With the exception of the Bergeron House, most other buildings were built by various family members (including the Bernier-Montminy House, originally built by Benjamin Pâquet Sr.). Although most where originally agricultural estates, they are now left as regular residences, with most dependencies having been torn down.
The site was first identified in 1984 by a review from the then Les Chutes-de-la-Chaudière Regional County Municipality. The municipality designated the site in 1987, shortly after the Loi sur les biens culturel, which regulate historic preservation at the provincial level, was amended to provide specifically for municipal designation. The site was amongst the first to be designated by a municipality in the province, with only the North Hatley Heritage Site preceding it by a month. A few years later the Pâquet House and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Chapel were classified as historic monuments, and subsequently restored to their better times. Primarily this involved removing various Regency-inspired alterations to the Pâquet House as well as moving the chapel and rebuilding its elaborate porch, which had had to be dismantled in the 50s during widening work on Quebec Route 132.
Read more about this topic: Saint-Nicolas Heritage Site
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