The owner’s tour | A perfume of resistance in Brossard

Owners open the doors of their exceptional residence to us, offered on the resale market.

Valerie Simard
The Press

Built in 1799, it is one of the oldest remaining residences of the seigneury of La Prairie. Urban sprawl having taken its toll, it is now located a stone’s throw from the crossroads of highways 10 and 30 and the shopping center that characterizes it. Classified as a heritage asset, the house resists, at the end of its cul-de-sac, in its green setting.

Leaving boulevard Rome to take chemin des Prairies in Brossard, you can smell the rural spirit that once characterized this thoroughfare which, according to the Société d’histoire de La Prairie-de-la-Magdeleine, was already on the an 1815 map made by surveyor Joseph Bouchette. At the end of the road, which is a dead end, still stand today the Banlier house (also called Deschamps) and its neighbor Senécal, which was named in honor of the family who lived there without interruption until the 1970s. Expropriated and threatened with demolition to make way for Highway 30, it was finally spared a change in route, after being abandoned. In 1984, Jules Journault, a tinsmith, bought it and undertook a meticulous restoration.

When they first visited the property in 2006, Sylvain Marquis and Caroline Lambert had already purchased land in Candiac on which they planned to build their home. They had started collecting inspirational images that were reminiscent of the style of an old house. Then by chance, they passed near the Senécal house, which had been put up for sale. Out of curiosity, they asked to visit it. “We pinched each other. We couldn’t believe that it was the soul of this house that we were trying to reproduce, but we wouldn’t have succeeded,” says Caroline Lambert.

They therefore abandoned their new construction project and sold their land to move into this period house with their two children, Jordan and Léa.

Cultural Heritage

With its stone masonry, its roof with two straight slopes, its stone chimneys at both ends, its asymmetrical openings and the absence of dormers, the residence is an example of a rural house of French inspiration, according to the Répertoire du cultural heritage of Quebec. It is classified under the Cultural Heritage Law since 1975.

In addition to its architecture, its ethnological value is also of interest since certain elements that still exist testify to the way in which its inhabitants lived in the 19th century.^and century. In the main bedroom, a small door and a hoist are vestiges of the storage of crops in the attic. In the kitchen, a stone sink, which flows directly outside, has been retained. The indoor bread oven (rebuilt from the remains of the existing oven) and the rack are also still in place.

By buying the house, Sylvain Marquis and Caroline Lambert made it more modern, while retaining its essence and traces of the past. At first they only wanted to enlarge it, but designer Rollande Vachon convinced them to refresh the entire interior, which was dark and very colorful. “She said to us, ‘Your house is too old for you,'” recalls Ms.^me Lambert.

The walls were painted white, which had the effect of softening the interior and highlighting the wide wooden slats of the floor and the original beams on the ceiling. The marriage between modern and old, accentuated by furniture and decorative accessories, is particularly successful and continues in the extension built in 2012.

In this vast room with white slat walls, surmounted by imposing wooden beams, the ceilings are 18 feet high. Large windows open onto the courtyard and the concrete swimming pool.

The project took more than two years to obtain permits from the municipality, since the land has agricultural zoning, and from the Ministry of Culture and Communications, which initially required that more contrasting colors be used. for this addition. By dint of arguments, the owners obtained the authorization to carry out the project as they wished.

It is today, because they do not take advantage of it enough, having found their happiness in Lac-Brome, that they have decided to sell their principal residence.

Protected land

“We have a ropes course in the woods. Deer, foxes, coyotes,” lists Sylvain Marquis. The land totals more than 54,000 sq.^⁠2 and also includes a garage and an old stable. A preservation zone surrounds the house, which means that no construction can take place within a radius of 500 m, to the chagrin of the many promoters who regularly knock on the door of the Lambert-Marquis.

The progress of urban development in the area is nevertheless undeniable. Since the arrival of the family, Quartier DIX30 and the surrounding mansions have been built. Soon, the REM will stop not far from the house. Not to mention Highway 30 which passes nearby and whose presence is heard outside, but not inside the thick walls of the house.

The couple are aware that they have a niche product in their hands and that it will probably take time before they find a buyer. The house has been on sale for a year and has suffered a few price cuts since then. “But we are happy not to have sold it quickly, underlines Sylvain Marquis. We are good here. »

Corrigendum

An earlier version of this article indicated that the Senécal family had lived in the house until 1984. However, they had to leave it in the 1970s, after the property was expropriated by the Quebec government to allow the construction of the Highway 30. The route was finally modified to spare the house.