[EN IMAGES] Now owned by Pierre Karl Péladeau, the François-Xavier Garneau house will remain open to the public

Businessman Pierre Karl Péladeau intends to preserve the heritage vocation of the François-Xavier Garneau house, which he bought in recent weeks.

The new owner and his family were able to visit the building erected in 1864 for the first time on Tuesday. As soon as he entered the house, Mr. Péladeau admits that the inventory left him speechless.

“It’s incredible,” he says. Looks like the house hasn’t moved since the 19^e century so everything is extremely well preserved. It is obvious that all the former owners and tenants took care of it with great care.”

Asked what he intended to do with this new acquisition, the president and CEO of Quebecor said, jokingly, that he did not intend to move there.

“A building from that era, in such a good state of preservation, must be accessible to the public. This was the case during the years when Louis [Garneau] owned it, and we are going to think about the best way to highlight this important historical and cultural attraction.”

Ideal successor

Proud of his patriotic values, Pierre Karl Péladeau jumped at the opportunity presented to him by his friend, businessman and champion cyclist Louis Garneau, to pursue the mission of preserving an emblem of Quebec history. .

The two men have found common ground for the sum of $515,000, including furniture for the five-story Victorian residence.

For Mr. Garneau, it went without saying that this important property had to be sold to “a man who will show the same passion for the history and culture of Quebec” as him.

Frozen in time

During its passage, The newspaper witnessed the efforts that have been made over time to preserve the authenticity of the house rented by the very first Canadian historian.

All the woodwork, ornaments, furniture, lighting fixtures and windows have survived the test of time. According to the history teacher and former house guide, Mario Lussier, this is extremely rare.

The house contains so many secrets, symbols and collector’s items that the former owner admits “not having had time to go around all these fascinating objects” in the last 25 years.

For his part, Mr. Lussier believes that the house’s library remains the highlight of the show since it is full of invaluable books. Among them, the third edition of the Histoire du Canada collection, written by François-Xavier Garneau and a book entirely in Latin dating from 1588.