MAISON DE CATALOGNE, RUE ST. VINCENT
This house commonly reputed in late years to be that of a rich trader, Charles Hubert dit Lacroix, cannot be substantiated as such by any document. What is true is that the house is built on the original concession to Nicholas Hubert dit Lacroix, a tailor of some civic distinction, who appears in Montreal for the first time in 1655. Houses then were built of logs. To archæologists the house appears to have been built at the same period as the Château de Ramezay, in the first part of the eighteenth century. The interior decorations are of a later period.
"The work was left in this unfinished condition, notwithstanding the repeated attempts to push it to completion, the Sulpicians' revenues, which were very unimportant at that time, finding better use in other directions.
"In 1708, Louis XIV ordered plans and estimates of the work to be submitted to him, the undertaking having been recognized as devolving upon the royal authorities, but, owing to the conditions of affairs in France during the latter part of the reign, the scheme had to be again postponed.
"Almost every year after this, the Canal de la Chine is mentioned in the correspondence between the superiors of the Montreal house and the head of the Sulpician Order in Paris, as also in letters addressed to the Governors of the colony.
"In 1717, Mr. Chaussegros de Léry, who had charge of all military and civil engineering works in Montreal, reported that three-fourths of the work was done. The Crown could not yet at the time give the necessary help to perfect the canal, but instructions were given not to abandon the idea.