In 2007, Christian Élie and Marie Guillemette bought a former farm in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, as a rural escape from their urban life in Montreal. At the time, they renovated the old farmhouse as a comfortable place to spend time with their four teenage children.

But there was another structure on the property that captivated Christian: a hulking, dilapidated barn that had been left to rot since the 1950s.

Over the next three years, they watched as the barn slowly sank into the earth and reached the verge of collapse. Deciding he couldn’t let it go, Christian called in Hilaire Gagné, a company specializing in moving and restoring buildings, to save it.

“It was a completely emotional decision,” says Christian, who is more used to making rational decisions as the co-owner of Pelican International, a major manufacturer of paddleboards, kayaks and other boats. “It’s all farms around our property, and most of the barns have been torn down,” he says, and he didn’t want his own to suffer a similar fate.

Finally, in 2016, Christian and Marie decided to transform it into a living space for their children, who had grown up but still visited frequently with friends. With specific ideas about he wanted, Christian drew initial plans in Microsoft Excel, undertook preliminary work with architect Daniel Levasseur, and then turned to Louis Béliveau of Montreal-based architecture studio La Firme for help.

“His main focus was to keep as much of the original structure as possible,” says Béliveau, who set about expanding on Christian’s initial ideas. Béliveau added larger openings for windows, including a 35-foot-high floor-to-ceiling wall of glass at the center of the home to frame views of the verdant Sutton mountains.

Béliveau also incorporated new exterior and interior hemlock spruce cladding into the design (the same local wood that was originally used to build the barn). Clean-lined minimalist details round out the interior, including a one-piece powder-coated steel staircase that floats over a white oak floor and concealed refrigerator drawers in the kitchen island to keep sightlines open.

The ground level of this 4,500-square-foot structure holds a mudroom, laundry room, and storage space. The main entrance is on the second floor, and is reached by a wooden bridge from a grassy bank wrapped by dry-stacked stone walls designed by landscape architect Alain Roy.

“The entrance is where it should be, and very typical of barns in the Eastern Townships,” says Béliveau. That level holds the open kitchen, dining, and living areas, as well as a game room and media room. Four bedrooms are upstairs, including two with corner windows that look not only out to the view but also down to the sunny double-height dining space.

“He found a way of improving every idea I had,” Christian says. In fact, by the time it finished last August, he and Marie were so impressed that they changed their minds about how to use the barn.

“We thought we should live in that space,” he says, and make the farmhouse available to their children. “It really is magical, with the volume and the light. We’re in love with this place.”

Project Credits:

Architect: La Firme / @la_firme_design

Architect: Michel Lemieux

General Contractor: Gérald St-Pierre

Landscape Designer: Alain Roy

Interior Lighting Designer: La Firme / @la_firme_design

Cabinetry Designer: La Belle Gueule de Bois

Custom Metalwork Fabricator: Précinox Métal

Photographer: Ulysse Lemerise / @ulysse_lemerise

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The Dramatic Transformation of This 100-Year-Old Barn Leads a Couple to Reconsider Its Use