The John W. Broadhead House
16 Taylor Street

John William Broadhead was born in Leicester, England, on March 20, 1822. He immigrated to Canada before 1858 with his wife, Maria Holt, born June 1, 1828, and their two children, Sabina, born in 1848, and Charles, born in 1852. After coming to Quebec, the couple had six more children: Howard, Eliza, Elisha Franklin, Eveline, Violet and George.

John William purchased this land, half of Lot 287, with his son-in-law, Matthew Venton, in September 1871, while his son Charles settled on the adjacent lot. Venton died the following year, and his widow, Sabina, lived with her parents during the construction of her own house on the same lot. John William Broadhead would build three houses in all. This house was his own home, where he died on December 12, 1898 after a long illness. He had practiced several professions involving wood, but was also registered in the assessment rolls as a painter, and even a gravedigger. By the end of his life, he was penniless and was cared for by his children.

When his wife, Mary Holt, died in October 1914, their son, Elisha Franklin, inherited the building. His sister, Violet, was still living at home. Hull Iron and Steel was founded around this time, and their brother-in-law, Thomas Birks, Sabina's second husband, convinced George, Charles and Howard to become shareholders in the foundry.

Elisha Franklin was born on January 14, 1866. He became a millwright and spent his entire life in this house, where he died in 1954. He left the house to his younger brother, George, who sold it that same year to Roland Bernard and his wife, Pauline Roy. They kept the house until September 1968. The buyer, Henri Labelle, sold it the following year to François McKinnon who sold it to Lucien Marengère in 1971. When Marengère died in 1983, he bequeathed the property to Gilles Pelletier. From that date, the house evidently became an investment property. Located on the shore of Brewery Creek, near the Wright Street Bridge, it is a fine example of the old homes in this historic district.