Taking Advantage of Our Uniqueness 2/3

Louis Pelletier, a general contractor specializing in built heritage, came to share his passion and experience with us January 19, 2010. This is the second part of his lecture's account.


Each community in Québec is unique, bearing the imprint left by the people who forged it. At Brownsburg-Chatham, we can be proud to have a large number of old houses, many of which reflect wealth. We find in our area buildings in pink granite, black granite stone and even Scotish brick. Remarkably, according to Mr. Pelletier, we could easily take the slogan "Brownsburg-Chatham, a string of churches." The Protestant heritage has indeed left almost as many places of worship as families. Moreover, our geographic terrain between the river and mountains, made up of undulating valleys, dotted with rivers and meandering streams, offers a potential for tourism that we should develop to our advantage.

The Roussell house: Brownsburg-Chatham's Chateau Frontenac 

The Roussell house, says Pelletier, represents the landmark, the point of interest to showcase our city, as is the Chateau Frontenac in Québec City. Its location at the crossroads makes it stand out. Think of it in its best attire and cleaned up... It will attract the eye like a beacon in the night.

Inside, visitors will be charmed and amazed by the presence of two coal fireplaces with wrought iron. This house also has several other advantages, which deserve to be valued.

Restoring takes so little

Restoring a building can increase costs by 5% of a standard renovation budget and rarely exceeds 15% in cases where we might exaggerate. A square box can become a building of interest if we add a balcony, heads of chassis, if we put back the crown, the corner blocks ("aissellières").

Mr. Pelletier has shown us examples of buildings all of little interest... to the untrained eye. With a budget of $ 10 000, we can achieve small miracles. According to the expert, it is much cheaper to return to the origins of the building and restore it than to rebuild it.

Our downtown could make the envy of any municipality that has historical sector, and could even be worthy of Old Québec. Everything is there and awaiting to be developed.

In the coming days: Where are you from? Or the pride of our hometown