If you’re in the market for a lovingly restored, 225-year-old masterpiece of New France–style home construction, head for Ste. Genevieve.
Yvonne Lemire has been restoring the Vital Ste. Gemme Beauvais House on South Main Street since buying in 1999, after it sat vacant for 13 years. The work has been a long-term labor of love, with fantastic results. It’s now up for sale.
Get a weekly dose of home and style inspiration
Subscribe to the St. Louis Design+Home newsletter to explore the latest stories from the local interior design, fashion, and retail scene.
The house is one of only four extant examples of poteaux-en-terre–style construction in North America. The other three have been made into museums. The style, which translates to “posts in earth,” consists of timbers placed on a stone in the ground. The posts stand vertically and bear the load of the roof.
“They’re not attached, they just stand there,” marvels Sherrie Hill, the COLDWELL BANKER, Gundarker real estate agent who has listed the home. “And they’re still standing!”
The 2,730-square-foot house has three bedrooms and two full baths. The lower bath has a clawfoot tub and distinctive pedestal sink. The master bedroom and sitting room have vaulted ceilings, and the house has upper and lower porches.
The home was built in 1792 for the family of Joseph-Vital Beauvais, who moved to Ste. Genevieve from Kaskaskia, Illinois. He was one generation removed from his Montreal roots. Between 1893 and 1901, the house underwent many changes, like a raised roof and the addition of dormers and staircases. The yard retains some original facets, like a summer kitchen and covered well. Lemire uses another outbuilding to conduct French cooking classes through her Rosemary & Thyme Cooking School.
“Everything was done as it would have been when it was originally built,” says Hill. “The kitchen was made to hide all of the appliances, like the dishwasher. The cabinets are replicas of the cabinets for the times.”
Lemire went so far as to research the plaster mix that would have been used at the time, and replicated it—down to the horse hair.
“Any time you see plaster, it’s the original mix,” says Hill.
The meticulous and historically accurate renovations have earned the house several awards: the Preserve Missouri Award for Outstanding Work in Residential Rehabilitation by the Missouri Preservation Society, the Missouri House of Representatives Resolution Award from the Missouri Alliance for Historical Preservation, and the Ste. Genevieve Landmarks Award for Historical Preservation.
It required work and ingenuity, as well as patiently undoing previous mistakes. About a decade before Lemire bought the house, a previous owner dealt with a burst pipe in the basement by filling the entire thing in with dirt. It’s been painstakingly removed.
Despite the historic appearance, it’s not a rustic living experience. While many of them are cleverly concealed, the house has all the expected modern conveniences. You won’t need to pump from the beautifully preserved well: The house is on city water and sewer lines.
“You get such a wonderful feeling when you walk in that house,” says Hill. “It’s so cozy.”
Vital Ste. Gemme Beauvais House. 20 South Main. Ste. Genevieve, Mo. Just under one acre. Listed for $489,000. Contact Sherrie Hill at COLDWELL BANKER, Gundaker for details: 314-221-9392 or [email protected].
