Description of Historic Place

Académie Sainte-Famille, built from 1910 to 1912 by the Religious Hospitallers of Saint-Joseph, is a four-storey Italianate wooden building located on Du Couvent Street in Tracadie-Sheila.

Heritage Value

Académie Sainte-Famille is designated a Local Historic Place for the importance of the work of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph in the field of education in New Brunswick and for its architecture.

The Religious Hospitallers of Saint-Joseph were the first French-speaking religious community of women to open a free school in New Brunswick. Their centre of education and training also promoted culture and arts on the Acadian Peninsula.

Académie Sainte-Famille is also recognized for its architecture and its builders. This good example of Italianate achitecture was erected by the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph under the direction of Msgr. Thomas F. Barry. Sr. Marie-Anne Doucet, with the assistance of Sr. Isabelle Sormany, drew up the plans for this large four-storey wooden building. The building is located in the centre of town, very close to the nuns’ cemetery and the lepers’ cemetery.

Source : Town of Tracadie-Sheila, Heritage file # 1

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe Académie Sainte-Famille as a whole include:
- location in the centre of town, near the sites of the old Hôtel-Dieu hospital and the former lazaretto;
- location near the nuns’ cemetery, the lepers’ cemetery, and the Tracadie cemetery;
- dominance in the municipality’s cultural landscape.

The character-defining elements that describe the architecture of Académie Sainte-Famille include:
- coss plan 4-storey massing;
- wooden construction;
- medium-pitched hipped roof, surmounted by a bell turret in the middle;
- Palladian window in the centre of the front façade;
- regular fenestration of rectangular windows;
- gable window on the front roof;
- main entrance topped by a portico;
- bell bearing the inscription "Stockholm 1802";
- original integrity of the interior in its design, partitions, woodwork, and staircases.