Jacob Wurtele House – Place Jacques-Cartier, Montréal, Québec

This stone house was built in 1804 on the site of a wooden structure that was torn down to create space for it. The stone mason was Nicolas Morin and Charles-Simon Delorme was responsible for the woodwork. The new building originally had two storeys. Its first owner was Jacob Wurtele, an innkeeper of German origin. Since Wurtele already had another establishment on the Place Royale, it is possible that he leased his new house to tenants. However, it seems that by 1810 he was receiving guests in this new building and was living in it himself. Wurtele died the following year. He left all his property to his widow, Sarah Bruner. She remarried twice: the first time to William Joshua Andrews and then to Moses Knapp. Sarah Bruner died in 1819. In 1822, The house was seized by the sheriff and sold as a result of a lawsuit undertaken against Moses Knapp by the children of Wurtele and Bruner.

Thomas Del Vecchio, another innkeeper, bought the house. He added a third floor to the building in 1825. Del Vecchio died in 1826 and his heirs continued to own the hotel until 1912, although the name of the establishment changed several times. A fourth floor – made of brick – was added to the building around 1900 and wooden stables were built in the back yard. Around 1910, the building was sold to Pacific Vandelac whose family operated a hotel and tavern on the premises for some 50 years. During the 1920’s the stables were converted into market stalls.

In 1961 the city of Montreal expropriated the property with the intention of turning it into an underground parking garage. Thankfully, the renewed interest in Old Montreal as an historical site led to the preservation and restoration of the building before it could be demolished. The fourth floor was removed, as were the wooden market stalls. It now houses a Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream shop.