Some houses are visited, others are passed down

Some houses are visited; others are passed down. On the intimate, winding rue De Richelieu, between the river and the ramparts of Fort Chambly, the John-Yule House has embodied the elegance of Lower Canada’s bourgeoisie for more than two centuries. It was built in the early 19th century for John Yule, a Scottish-born merchant whose fortune was tied to Chambly’s military life. Today it remains the last testament to the Yule family, seigneurs of Chambly.

Québec’s Ministry of Culture describes it as one of the most representative and accomplished examples of Palladian-inspired residential architecture in Québec, and one of the oldest still standing. The two-and-a-half-storey stone main house is perfectly symmetrical: a central pediment pierced by a half-moon window, small-paned windows framed in cut stone, double gable chimneys and a central wooden doorway. The truncated roof with its ridge terrace completes a silhouette of rare nobility. As a classified heritage building, the house is protected both inside and out.

Two side wings, set on either side of the main house, extend the residence in perfect harmony. In all: 18 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a powder room. Comfort has kept pace with history: three propane fireplaces, heated floors in the vestibule and the extension, a central heat pump (2022) in the extension plus wall-mounted air conditioning, electric heating system and water heater renewed in 2022, air exchanger, French drain around the 2002 extension, and connection to municipal water and sewer.

The 94,531 sq. ft. landscaped lot (about 8,780 m², more than two acres) offers rare privacy, just a few minutes’ walk from Fort Chambly, the basin and the shops of Old Chambly. Classified residences of this stature very rarely change hands. Owning the John-Yule House means becoming the guardian of a chapter of Québec history, in a setting of absolute serenity.