Description of Historic Place

Hotel Duguay/LeBlanc is located on Acadie Road in Cap-Pelé. The building has a two-storey wooden rectangular frame with a truncated hip roof.

Heritage Value

Hotel Duguay/LeBlanc is designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture and for its association with the early commercial life of Cap-Pelé, being the oldest commercial building in the village.

The Hotel Duguay/LeBlanc, built around 1855, is a good example of the style of many hotels in smaller communities of that era. It has a two-storey wooden rectangular frame with a truncated hip roof. The building is recognized as the oldest commercial building in Cap-Pelé and area.

The origins of Hotel Duguay/LeBlanc go back to around 1855, when Fidèle Duguay built a house that also served as a drinking establishment. Around 1878, this business was taken over by his sister, Domithilde Duguay-Larkins, who also opened an inn on the premises. She was the region’s first businesswoman. Between 1877 and 1881, she was the only female Acadian in the Maritimes who was listed in the commercial directories. Her business took up the eastern section of the building. In 1885, Nap-S. LeBlanc became the owner of the building and expanded it, turning it into the Hotel LeBlanc. It operated as a hotel until the 1920s. One of its best-known clients was Acadian genealogist and historian Placide Gaudet, who was born in Cap-Pelé. Nap-S. LeBlanc was in turn a teacher, a merchant, a lobster packer, a herring smoker, a quarry owner, a hotelkeeper, a tinsmith, a justice of the peace, a coroner, and a school trustee. Thanks to his political influence, the building housed the Cap-Pelé post office from 1923 to 1957, managed by his son-in-law. From its beginning, the building also served as a family residence for the various owners. Since the 1980s, the building has housed the Nanking Restaurant.

Source : Village of Cap-Pelé Municipal Building, Historic Places file No. 6

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe Hotel Duguay/LeBlanc include:
- rectangular 2 storey massing;
- eastern part of the wooden framework dating from 1855;
- main section dating from 1885;
- truncated hip roof;
- cut stones of the cellar;
- original door and windows openings;
- some of the original interior finish.