Over the objections of the building’s owner, Ottawa city council has granted heritage status to a “rare and unusual remaining example” of a century-old farmhouse in Orléans.
Located at 6654 Notre-Dame St. in the east-end suburb, Lauzon House is described by city heritage experts as an important link to the history of the early Franco-Ontarian farming community while exhibiting “a high degree of craftsmanship and artistic merit” in the ornamental concrete blocks used in the construction of its exterior walls.
The farmhouse is located at the corner of Notre-Dame and Henri Lauzon Street — a road named, in fact, for the longtime Orléans resident who grew up in the farmhouse built by his father, Joseph, around 1920.
After the city’s built heritage committee backed the proposed designation, city council approved the staff recommendation to declare the house a heritage site under the Ontario Heritage Act.
But the process has not been without controversy.
Last July, the property owner — who is anonymous in city documents — submitted a notice of intention to demolish the house.
In response, city staff began a heritage evaluation in September, concluding that the building warrants protection for several design features and historical associations.
Distinctive features
Lining the exterior walls are custom-made concrete blocks featuring ornamental designs of horseshoes, clovers, and anchors. The blocks were handcrafted by Joseph Lauzon using wooden moulds and metal face plates that had been developed and sold commercially in the early decades of the 1900s.
The house “is a rare, unique, representative or early example of a style, type, expression, material or construction method,” the city’s heritage assessment states.
Aesthetics aside, the property is tied to the development of Orléans as an important French-Canadian community in the vicinity of Canada’s capital, eventually becoming absorbed into the enlarged, amalgamated City of Ottawa in January 2001.
The house is one of the last surviving farmhouses in the area and represents the agricultural roots of Orléans and its settlement by French-Canadians in the 19th and 20th centuries.
— City of Ottawa heritage report on historic Lauzon House, Orléans
“Directly associated with several French-speaking Roman Catholic families, the property reflects a larger historic trend of the arrival of French Catholic migrants to the Orléans area in the 19th and 20th centuries,” the report states.
“The house is one of the last surviving farmhouses in the area and represents the agricultural roots of Orléans and its settlement by French-Canadians in the 19th and 20th centuries. It yields information that contributes to an understanding of a community or culture.”
Local heritage groups have noted the loss of other sites and emphasized the need for city preservation.
“Local heritage organizations, including the Société franco-ontarienne du patrimoine et de l’histoire d’Orléans, have highlighted the loss of many ancestral homes in the area and see the property as an important link to the community’s cultural history,” said City of Ottawa spokesperson Kendra Titley.
Owner’s objections
In an October 2025 letter to the city, the current owner of the property objected to the planned heritage status, stating “the proposed designation is not justified in law or in fact.”
The owner cited a wide range of issues, from financial concerns to restrictions on property development, as reasons the heritage designation should not proceed.
A heritage designation “would impose disproportionate maintenance and repair costs, including requirements for specialized materials and approvals, which constitute an undue hardship,” the owner wrote. “Designation would significantly restrict my lawful use and enjoyment of the property, including the ability to alter, renovate, or adapt the dwelling to meet evolving needs.”
The owner called for the city to pursue alternative heritage measures instead.
“The City has other mechanisms (e.g., heritage easements, voluntary designation, or community recognition programs) that can preserve heritage character without imposing compulsory restrictions on individual homeowners,” the owner argued.
City response
But at a built heritage committee meeting in January, staff said, “in instances where the maintenance of the heritage attributes of a property becomes a financial challenge for a property owner, the City will create and maintain financial incentive programs to support the rehabilitation and sensitive development of designated heritage properties.”
These programs include funding from the Heritage Property Grant Program that gives property owners up to $10,000 for restoration costs.
In response to the idea of alternative heritage measures, the city said “voluntary measures are insufficient when a property faces an immediate threat of demolition, as is the case here.”
The council decision confirmed the city has no plans to withdraw its notice to designate the property and will proceed with a bylaw formalizing Lauzon House as a heritage building.
