Maison Auclair-L’Heureux was built by Pierre Auclair, forefather with his brother André of all the Auclairs in America. The house is included in Quebec’s inventory of works of art, but is not classified as a historical monument, because its owners prefer to have full control of decisions concerning the property.

Rural house in the Normandy tradition. Walls built from fieldstone and whitewashed. Sloped four-sided oiled-cedar shingle roof. The dormer windows are relatively recent. The house is located at 1695, Bastien Boulevard, west of Charlesbourg.

Family tradition has it that the house was built in 1684, but in the absence of a construction contract, it is difficult to authenticate the date. The oldest written document attesting to the existence of the house is dated 1769. It describes a stone house fifty-two feet (52 ft. in French measures : 55 ft. in English) by thirty (32) wide, composed of a bedroom, two antechambers, kitchen, dairy and sitting room and basement, wooden tongue-and-grooved planked and shingled roof, tongue-and-grooved wood ceiling and floors, two fireplaces, nine windows and two doors.

To go further back in time requires an examination of building materials. Dendrochronologic (dating of the wood) analyses were carried out by the Dendrochronological Labotary of Laval University. These studies show that the beams on the east side of the house (kitchen) date back to 1673, not much later, whereas those of the roof structure date to 1719. Dating of the beams on the west side (living room) has yet to be completed.

Investigations suggest that the plans were drawn up so that the house could be built in two stages. A second, identical stone structure was added to the first. A stone wall which divides the house along its width appears to be the lateral wall of the first half of the house. The first half, the kitchen, apparently was begun early after 1683, and the other half shortly after 1719. The roof was completely rebuilt when the second half of the house was constructed.