Old Montréal
  BUILDING RECORD 
This record is for demonstration purposes only. There are also two hypertext links (text underlined and in bold) towards the designer of the building and a former occupant. But unlike the records in the complete French version of the database, the other links do not function.
Identification  
 
 

©City of Montréal, 2005
 

©City of Montréal, 2005
 
The firm of Cameron, Currie & Company, booksellers and publishers, occupied the eastern portion of the building in 1891; the firm quit the premises a few years later.
Source: Dominion Illustrated, 1891
 
Historical name of the building:

Bouthillier Store-residence

Civic address:
  • 206 rue Saint-Paul Ouest

Unless otherwise noted, all civic addresses are taken from the tax rolls of the Montreal Urban Community (1997).

Location map:

plan de localisation

Physical characteristics:
  • Number of stories: 3.5
    with a half storey under the roof
  • Principal building material: stone
  • Principal roof type: mansard

For more information on the physical characteristics of the building,
please consult the list of physical characteristics.

This building forms part
of the following block:
  • La Petite Cour
    History of the block
    The Petite Cour block consists of the Bouthillier Store-residence at 206 St. Paul Street West and the J. Tiffin Warehouse-store at 203 Place d’Youville.

Click on the name of the block to obtain the list of buildings forming the block.

Top
History of the building  
 

This store-residence was built in 1837. In 1833, Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier, a potash inspector, acquired some of the properties belonging to his deceased parents, including this lot on St. Paul Street with a two-storey stone house and outbuildings. Four years later, Bouthillier hired mason Louis Comte to build this stone store-residence, which was originally divided into two unequal parts. The first lease found for this building dates from 1846, when Robert Graham, a stationer and bookbinder, moved into the larger, eastern portion. As the tax assessment rolls clearly indicate, Graham worked and lived on the premises, with the ground floor being devoted to his business and the upper storeys to his residence. This same pattern of use very likely characterized the western part of the building.

This combined business and residential function continued for several decades as a variety of tenants followed one after the other: shopkeepers of various sorts – including booksellers, stationers, a fur merchant – as well as small manufacturers, particularly of tobacco. By the 1870s, at the latest, the upper storeys no longer provided housing for tenants but were entirely devoted to commercial uses. About the same time, presumably to better accommodate growing business needs, a four-storey brick addition was built in the back, on the west side. In 1890, Bouthillier's heirs sold the building.

During the first two decades of the 20th century, the building again changed its function as manufacturing and warehousing became dominant. The Stuart Brothers Company, a manufacturing firm producing essential oils and food flavours, owned and occupied the premises between 1919 and 1946. Already in possession of the warehouse-store to the rear, facing onto Place D'Youville, the new owner built an addition before 1940 to unify the buildings in a single block. The property subsequently belonged to the veterinary laboratories of Dr. Léo Lorrain for more than 25 years.

In 1979, the block was transformed into a condominium complex known as La Petite Cour, comprising shops, offices and housing.

Top
Architecture  
 

This store-residence is provided with a rear courtyard, entered by a passageway from St. François-Xavier Street. The building itself consists of three stories, with an additional half-storey in the garret. The original roof, probably a pitched one, was replaced before 1880 by a mansard roof with dormers; sometime later the rear portion was replaced with a flat roof. The common walls have integrated chimneys, a traditional characteristic. A fire-break wall, which can be seen rising above the roof, originally divided the building into two unequal parts.

This building preserves certain elements of 18th-century urban houses in Montreal, however the use of cut stone to cover the whole front facing the street was an innovation in the 19th century, as was the use of more elaborate architectural details to draw attention to ground-floor businesses; both features are characteristic of the store-residences erected in the years 1825-1850. The arcade, with its series of segmented arches and rusticated stonework – borrowings from the vocabulary of classical architecture –, accentuates the large openings that were originally fitted out with mullioned show-windows. The latter made their first appearance in Montreal during the 1820s and served to display a merchant’s new wares. In keeping with the prominence of the street front, the upper stories were covered with ashlar, but the restrained treatment of the stone and the size of the window openings still suggest the residential function of this space. As in houses erected during the 18th century, the symmetrically arranged windows diminish in size from one storey to the next.

In this structure each tenant originally had an entrance that served the commercial activities of a shopkeeper or craftsman, and provided access to the household’s living space above. Since the late 1970s, a single entrance serves the shops and apartments in this building, which has again become a store-residence.

Top
Initial construction  
 
Date of construction:

1837

Designer/builder:
  • Louis Comte
    (master mason)
    Information concerning the career of the designer/builder
Owner-builder:
  • Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier (potash inspector)
    (owner from 1833-02-15 to 1881-02-28)
    Bouthillier’s heirs retained possession until February 28, 1890.
Comment concerning the construction

Evidence for the construction of this store-residence is contained in an agreement for a party wall between Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier and his neighbour Charles Lamontagne, as well as in a deed of debt passed between Bouthillier and the mason Louis Comte, notary N.B. Doucet, August 25, 1837, and notary J. Belle, August 17, 1838.

Top
Original function(s)  
 
General function(s):
  • commerce
  • housing
Specific building type:
  • store-residence
Top
Other construction work  
 
Construction work 1:
    Date of work: circa 1865
    Modification of the horizontal volume of the building.
    Modification of the vertical volume of the building.
    Removal of a pitched or mansard roof.


    A four-storey extension in brick was added to the rear, on the west side. At the same time, it is probable that the pitched roof was replaced by a mansard one.
Construction work 2:
    Date of work: circa 1935
    (between 1930 and 1940)
    Modification of the horizontal volume of the building.

    The Stuart Brothers Company created a single block comprising its store-residence at 206 St. Paul Street West and its warehouse-store at 203 Place d’Youville. The one-storey stone extension occupied the entire space lying between the two buildings.
Construction work 3:
    Date of work: 1979
    Modification of the horizontal volume of the building.
    Partial demolition of the building.
    Restoration or conversion of the building.


    Most of the one-storey extension built between 1930 and 1940 to join the two buildings on St. Paul Street and Place d’Youville was demolished, leaving only a common passageway on the west side. The newly liberated space was laid out as a courtyard. Transformed into condominiums, the block of buildings was also renovated: the basement, ground floor and second floor were designated for retail, display and office space, while the upper floors included residential units. On St. Paul Street, a single entrance was built to provide common access to the commercial and residential spaces.
Top
Other proprietors or tenants (selective)  
 
Proprietors:
  • Stuart Brothers Company Limited (distillers and producers of essential oils and food essences)
    (owner from 1910-11-14 to 1946-03-26)
    Additional information available for the year 1929.
    Before the firm was incorporated on February 25, 1926, the company was known by the name Stuart Brothers. The firm occupied the premises from 1920 to 1945.
  • Laboratoires du Dr. Léo Lorrain Limitée (veterinary laboratory)
    (owner from circa 1947 to 1973-07-03)
    Léo Lorrain, a veterinarian, purchased the building from Stuart Brothers Company Limited on March 26, 1946, and then resold it to the Laboratoires du Dr. Léo Lorrain Limitée within the following year. The company maintained its head offices at 203 Place d’Youville and also occupied part of the store-residence on St. Paul Street.
Top
Heritage protection for the building  
 
The building is situated in the following protective zones:
  • Historic District of Montreal (Old Montreal) (1964-01-08) (provincial jurisdiction)
  • Secteur significatif à critères (PIIA) Vieux-Montréal partie ouest (municipal jurisdiction)
  • Secteur de valeur patrimoniale exceptionnelle Vieux-Montréal (municipal jurisdiction)
Top
Reference numbers  
 
Building:

0040-40-5860-01

Property:

0040-40-5860
Record 1 of 2 for this property

Top
For more information...  
 

For more information on the history or architecture of this building,
please consult the following sources:

  • Sources - Bâtiments 1840 à nos jours
  • Sources - Bâtiments 1642 à nos jours
  • Catalogue d'iconographie (1992)
  • Inventaire (1980-...) - Dossiers, 14330-0531   206 rue Saint-Paul ouest
  • Le Prix courant, 8 (1929): 36
Top
 
Old