Description of Historic Place

The Two Ferdinand LeBlancs' House is a vernacular one-and-a-half-storey L shaped residence, located on Champlain Street in the Lakeburn area of Dieppe.

Heritage Value

The Two Ferdinand LeBlancs' House is probably the oldest in Lakeburn, Dieppe’s high eastern borderland. It was in 1854, shortly before getting married, that Ferdinand LeBlanc, son of Moïse, built the house on the grant that his father had obtained. However, Ferdinand mortgaged the lot his father had passed on to him, and lost it. Another Ferdinand LeBlanc, son of Maximin, purchased the farm around 1875, and moved his already large family there. When his fourth son Onésime, known as "Jimmy", got married in 1888, the father let his son’s new family settle in his home. At the end of the century, the house was expanded by annexing a smaller kitchen at a right angle to form an “L.” It was skillfully renovated and expanded in the manner common in the 1890's, and provides an excellent example of that style. When an accident cost Jimmy his life in 1916, his son Alain returned from the war and took over the farm, which he inherited in the end.

Socially, there was a bitter rivalry between this LeBlanc family and another family by the same name that lived just a little further to the east, known as the “Coleau” LeBlancs. This discord defined an entire period of Lakeburn’s history.

Source: City of Dieppe, Historic Places file (2), G8

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe the Two Ferdinand LeBlancs' House include:
- older main portion of the building with a gable facing on to the street;
- annexation of a smaller summer kitchen, placed perpendicularly to form an “L” shape, providing an excellent example of this very popular style from the 1890's;
- addition of a veranda along the whole front façade, including the annexed kitchen;
- like most of the older residences in Lakeburn, the house used to sit on the northern side of the road, much further to the west; it was relocated to the current site around 1938.