401-403, Place Jacques-Cartier
Built at the same time as its neighbour of the Jacques-Cartier Square, this house bears the names of the two owners, Louis Parthenais and his son‑in‑law Augustin Perrault. Erected in 1812-1813, this corner unit was rented to François Papineau, a merchant. Various shops followed: grocer, innkeepers, hardware shops.
The wall on the Plaza and the one on St-Paul Street have been rebuilt inn stone and the ground floor windows enlarged in 1842 at the same moment as the neighbour’s house. A physician, Victor Perrault was the owner from 1855 to 1901. Then his daughter kept the building until 1919. A tobacco merchant was occupying the house since1869, Léon Larue. At first he was a tenant, but later he bought the building of the Perrault heirs in 1919. While Larue occupied the corner of the building, several other tenants lived in the other section of the house:, a laundry, taverns and restaurants and even a footwear merchant. The LarueTabagie was replaced by a candy store and then from 1940, taverns and restaurants have been serving beer and meals.
In 1961, automobile being more and more important in the sector, the city decided to build a parking lot and to expropriate several historical witnesses for this purpose. Fortunately, before the damage became a reality, a law was passed in 1964 declaring the Old Montreal a historic district. Farewell parking. The House was then rented in 1966 and restored the next year. Nowadays a souvenir shop occupies the ground floor.
Being in the historic district of old Montréal, this building is now preserved by the law as being part of Montreal Heritage.
