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The Commissaire-Ordonnateur's Residence
The Commissaire-Ordonnateur's Residence was a masonry style house, common among the upper-class population of Louisbourg. The property consisted of an official residence, offices, a storehouse, and stables. 
These buildings were either purchased or built at royal expense. However, furnishings in the private rooms were privately owned. Three offices were based on the ground floor; the "bureau des classes", the "bureau des troupes", and "bureau des décharges". Two of those offices had been relocated elsewhere in the town by 1741, leaving only the bureau des décharges. All financial records for the colony were kept in this office. The other rooms on this floor were the dining room and salon of the commissaire-ordonnateur.
This building was one of the most important centres for the direction and administrative control of the colony of Île Royale. It was here that European traditions and practices were applied to control the ebb and flow of Louisbourg commerce. The colony's means of survival and local opportunities were studied and exploited for the benefit of Louisbourg's elite, merchants, officers, and administrators. To the rest of the community this property was a symbol of wealth and prestige and a reminder of the importance of royal authority in all aspects of Louisbourg society. The royal treasury was kept and guarded here for a while. Major bills such as payments to contractors for work on fortifications were made here.
From rooms in his home the commissaire-ordonnateur could watch ships arriving and departing the harbour, cargoes being loaded and unloaded, and the officials and merchants overseeing all the activity. If one needed to know anything about Louisbourg commerce the commissiare-ordonnateur would have been the person to see.