Businessman Louis Garneau has put the François-Xavier Garneau house up for sale, a heritage building that Quebec’s first historian lived in at the end of the 19th century.e century.
Since 1998, Mr. Garneau had owned the building, located in Old Quebec. With the scarcity of labor which complicates its maintenance and a few months from its 65e anniversary, Mr. Garneau wishes to hand over.
“I spent 25 years supporting Maison Garneau and I did it out of passion,” he told the Duty.
Mr. Garneau says that this transaction has nothing to do with the difficulties experienced by his company in 2020. Three years ago, when he restructured the capital of Louis Garneau Sports, he had bought the house by the through a business that he personally owns.
“Three years ago, I didn’t want there to be a fire sale,” he said. I was not mentally ready. I said: “I want to take it back”. It is a house that does not need much maintenance. »
The asking price is $595,000, barely more than the property assessment of $570,000. The period furniture and collectibles contained in the house can be sold separately, the owner explained. Louis Garneau had acquired it from Claude Doiron who, at the time, had been looking for a buyer for three years.
Heritage protection
François-Xavier Garneau lived in the three-storey building, which he rented during the last two years of his life. He died there in 1866.
According to information from the Ministry of Culture, its historical value rests on its association with Mr. Garneau, “a prominent figure in 19th-century French-Canadian literature” who, from 1845 to 1848, wrote his History of Canada from its discovery to the present day.
Heritage protection applies to the exterior and interior of the building, as well as to the land.
The interior of the house has been exceptionally preserved, including its original moldings, explained its current owner. It contains several pieces of furniture from the period, including a library with 3,000 books, collections of newspapers, organs and at least one cupboard which would have belonged to the historian.
The house was open for private visits. It was also used when Mr. Garneau received foreign visitors. More recently, cabinetmaking students could have access to it.
Louis Garneau would like the Quebec government or the City of Quebec to acquire the building because of François-Xavier Garneau’s role as the first historian of French Canada.
“He was an artist, a nationalist who wanted to make Lord Durham lie who had said that French Canadians were a people without history,” he recalled.
As provided by the regulations, Mr. Garneau notified the Ministry of Culture of the sale of the building.
The businessman also challenged his friend Pierre Karl Péladeau, controlling shareholder of the Quebecor conglomerate. “I challenge him: Pierre Karl is my favorite candidate for the Garneau suite,” he said. Pierre Karl is a great nationalist. »
Debates
In 1995, an article in Le Soleil reported that the sale had sparked debate because of its heritage value, recognized in 1966 by the Quebec government.
Representatives of the Monuments and Sites Council, the Arts and Culture Office, the Caisse populaire Desjardins de Québec, the Tourism and Convention Bureau, the School of Architecture, the Geographical Society, of Parks Canada, the magazine Cap-aux-Diamants, the Rassemblement des citoyen du Vieux-Québec, Cégep Garneau, the Société historique de Charlesbourg, as well as two MNAs, had met to discuss ways of preserving the building .
Following the recent debate sparked by the government’s decision to sell Maison Chevalier, Mr. Garneau is aware that the subject could be politically delicate, since Maison Garneau is not a property of the State.
“Of course there will be debates,” he said.
The president of the Société historique de Québec, Alex Tremblay Lamarche, pointed out the rarity of interiors as well preserved as in the Maison Garneau. “If the interior is protected, the main thing would be that it remains accessible to the public and that it is more so than it is now,” he said.
Rare visits
In recent years, home visits had become rare. There were sometimes groups, students of cabinetmaking, enthusiasts of the preservation of old houses. A CEGEP history teacher, Mario Lussier, provided the tours. “It was pretty dead in the last few years,” he explained to the Duty.
Historian Patrice Groulx, biographer of François-Xavier Garneau, wonders what will happen to the interior furniture of this residence. “The previous owners had completely reconstructed the interior. »
But he points out that Garneau only lived in this house for a few months, at the very end of his life.
“Contrary to what the plaque suggests, Garneau only settled there at the end of his life. He had just retired. He was looking to reduce his lifestyle, because his income had decreased. However, at that time, he still owned the house he lived in the longest, rue Sainte-Geneviève. »
However, on this house, observes Patrice Groulx, there has never been a plaque. “Nothing points to it. The building is now subdivided. Addresses are changed. But it still exists, Garneau’s house. »
François-Xavier Garneau is a monument of Quebec letters. “He is our first national historian and a great writer,” explains Patrice Groulx. Garneau was known not only as a historian, but also as a poet. “He was also clerk of Quebec City, a very important position at the time, in addition to being known as a friend of Louis-Joseph Papineau and the Patriot Party. »
With Dave Noel