The West Island Heritage Bicycle Trail
DEMERS-PORTELANCE House
Address: 42 rue Sainte-Anne, Pointe Claire
Map number: 23
Year of construction: 1847
Style: Quebecois Style (1760-1880)
Description: This house was built around 1847 for Pierre Demers, a blacksmith, with the blacksmith’s shop at the rear of the house. The roofline featuring “cheminées en chicane” (two chimneys, one on each gable end), was modified in 1944 by Stanislas Portelance, blacksmith and carriage builder, when he added shed dormers.
Plaque text and image (if available): This house was built around 1847 for Pierre Demers, a blacksmith, with the blacksmith’s shop at the rear of the house. The French influence is shown by the building’s low foundations, and its “cheminées en chicane” (two chimneys, one on each gable end). The gentle slope of the roof and the importance of its windows are elements borrowed from the Neo-Classical tradition. Hormidas Legault known as Deslauriers, and Joseph Brunet known as Letary, kept the blacksmith shop running until it was acquired by Stanislas Portelance, blacksmith and carriage builder. In 1944, he added shed dormers to the roof.