Maison Joseph-Gauvreau

Maison Joseph-Gauvreau is a heritage building located in Rimouski, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec. Constructed in 1906 and 1907 for Dr. Joseph Gauvreau, this eclectic-style bourgeois home served as his principal residence, as well as housing his medical practice and hydrotherapy clinic, whose fame spread throughout Quebec. Gauvreau was also one of the pioneers of hygiene and preventive medicine in Quebec. The amputation of one of his arms in 1909 forced him to give up medical practice and relocate to Montreal. Between 1930 and 1947, the house was owned by Jules-André Brillant, Québec-Téléphone founder, and Québec legislative councilor. It was one of the few houses spared by the Rimouski fire of 1950. The following year, it was moved by Société immobilière Irving to make way for a filling station. In 1984, faced with the threat of demolition in order to expand the filling station, a group of citizens mobilized to have the house classified as a Heritage Building in 1985. The house was sold to Réjean Frenette in 1998, who moved it back to its original location and restored it to its early 20th-century appearance. Since 2007, it has housed a chocolate factory and three meeting rooms. Maison Joseph-Gauvreau is located at 1, rue de l'Évêché Ouest, at the intersection of rue de la Cathédrale, in Rimouski. It is located in the institutional heart of the city. Jules-André Brillant After completing his medical studies at Université Laval in 1896, Dr. Joseph Gauvreau returned to the Rimouski area and settled in Le Bic in 1897. After his brother, also a physician, died in 1898, he moved his medical practice to Rimouski. In 1900, he was injured in a car accident, but it seemed to have no effect other than to leave him with a few protuberances in his arm. In May 1906, Dr. Joseph Gauvreau rented land at the intersection of rue de l'Évêché and rue de la Cathédrale, a brand-new crossroads in the city, from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rimouski. The contract, signed by Mgr.