Description of Historic Place

Château d’Acadie is a 2-storey stone Chateauesque residential building located on Principale Street in Tracadie-Sheila.

Heritage Value

Château d’Acadie is designated a Local Historic Place for its association with its first resident and for its architecture.

Château d’Acadie, today a bed and breakfast, was formerly the home of the late Dr. Aldoria Robichaud. A part adjacent to the residence served as an office for this doctor, who was in charge of the lazaretto in Tracadie from 1939 to 1965. He was also a surgeon at the local hospital from 1934 to 1972. He was the last physician to care for the Tracadie lepers. Besides working as a surgeon for 50 years, Dr. Robichaud found a remedy for leprosy during a stay in Louisiana, so the last lepers in Tracadie were then able to be treated with this new medication, sulfoxone sodium (diasone).

The Chateauesque architectural style of Château d’Acadie, built in 1939, is unique in the region. It exhibits such traditional elements of this style as the hipped roof with steeply pitch cross-gable, the dormers breaking the roofline and exterior stone walls. Inside, some of the furniture and certain floors are made of mahogany, and there are also birch floors. Most of the furniture consists of a collection of the original pieces, giving the house a great richness.

Source : Town of Tracadie-Sheila, Heritage file # 5

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe the architecture of Château d’Acadie include:
- asymmetrical 2-storey massing;
- stone exterior walls;
- hipped roof with steeply pitched cross-gable;
- gabled dormers that break the roofline;
- Roman arch entryways with paneled doors;
- cement entrance stairs;
- irregular fenestration of tall rectangular windows in sets ranging from single to five windows.

The character-defining elements that describe the interior of Château d’Acadie include:
- yellow birch floor;
- mahogany floors;
- collection of original furniture.