Aboriginal heritage
There are few traces left of the original Amerindian architecture, as the Aboriginal peoples were essentially nomads. However, if you wish to learn more about their history and discover the treasures of ingenuity developed in the construction of their dwellings, do not hesitate to go to Wendake, only a few kilometers from Quebec City. This Huron-Wendat community, which at first glance looks like any modern municipality, presents an amazing site where the traditional Huron habitat is reconstituted around the round house, the flagship dwelling of this Amerindian people: the Traditional Huron Onhoüa Chetek8e Site. A visit rich in discoveries and emotions to not forget the importance of the Amerindian people... the first true Americans!
French Classicism
The architectural history of Quebec City truly begins with the arrival of the first French settlers. The Petit Champlain district still retains a Malouin style, reminding us that most of the first settlers came from the west of France and from Saint-Malo in particular. Petit Champlain Street is one of the oldest streets in North America. Among the superb houses not to be missed is the Maison Louis-Jolliet, originally built in 1673, then rebuilt in 1683 after a terrible fire that destroyed 55 of the 85 houses in Lowertown. On Saint-Louis Street, you can also admire the Maillou House (begun in 1736), the Jacquet House (1675) and one of the oldest houses in the city, the Kent House, built in 1650 and transformed many times since. Alongside these treasures of civil architecture, you can also discover the ingenious military constructions put in place by the French colonists. It was they who began building the first ramparts around the city, and who equipped the city with its royal battery, built in 1691. In 1620, Champlain built Fort Saint-Louis, which later became a castle and the official residence of the province's governors. It was enlarged several times and then rebuilt by the Count of Frontenac in a classical French style with a symmetrical composition, high roof and turrets topped with imperials. Unfortunately, the castle was completely destroyed in 1834, and only a few remains are still visible today. A granite pavement marks the original location of the fort on the present-day Place Royale, considered the cradle of the French presence in North America and surrounded by superb 17th and 18th century buildings. The French also left important religious witnesses, starting with the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church, the oldest stone church on the continent, built in 1688. The sobriety and elegance of its interior decoration, where the dominant white emphasizes the brilliance of the gold, are particularly appreciated. Founded in 1663, the Séminaire de Québec still has an original wing, the Procure wing, a fine example of the sobriety and symmetry of the French classical style.
English influence
The English settlers brought rigour and monumentality. In military matters, it is to them that we owe the astonishing citadel which takes up the polygonal organization invented by... Vauban. This is not without irony! As far as religion is concerned, the British colonists endowed the city with Holy Trinity Cathedral, the first cathedral to be built outside the British Isles in 1804. Its architects were inspired by the style that was very much in vogue in Great Britain at the time: the Palladian style, a style borrowing from the canons of Antiquity and which can be seen in the pilasters, the triangular pediment and the triple arches of the windows. Holy Trinity is thus reminiscent of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. But above all, the English transformed the city's urban planning. They introduced carriage gates, because unlike the French, they wanted to have the stables in their courtyards. They were also the ones who made private housing evolve. Where the French preferred a Mediterranean-style housing for several families, the English advocated individual housing. You will be able to admire superb examples of row houses or terraced houses with uniform facings and refined decoration in Sainte-Ursule and Sainte-Famille streets in particular. Finally, it is to the English that we owe the specialization of the architecture. Under the French regime, houses and businesses had the same style, whereas with the English, some streets were designed for businesses, others for homes, implying a specific architecture for each function. This is how they created the institutional centre of Quebec City by building the Union Hotel, the Anglican cathedral and the courthouse around the Place d'Armes. Quebec City is French-speaking... but its architecture bears the unmistakable imprint of the English!
Quebec eclecticism
In the 19th century, Quebec did not escape the advent of the "neo" styles used by nations around the world to reinvent their past and redesign their identity. The most famous representative of this architectural trend is, of course, the Château Frontenac, perched on Cap Diamant, whose crenellated silhouette cuts through the sky. Modeled after the châteaux of the Loire Valley, the Château Frontenac imposes a Renaissance style tinged with a form of English romanticism that would later be referred to as the "château style," a grandiose style used to underline the importance of the building's sponsor: the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. At that time, one man played a key role: Lord Dufferin, an unconditional lover of the city and an ardent defender of its ramparts, which he defended tooth and nail against the urban planners who had begun to destroy them in order to expand the city. If you can walk along the ramparts today, it is thanks to him! He also had the Saint-Louis gate rebuilt in a superb neo-Gothic style. The Saint-Jean gate was rebuilt in 1936 in a neo-medieval style. But it is especially to him that we owe the Dufferin Terrace, whose long wooden walkways and bandstands symbolize the splendours of the Belle Époque. The other superb achievement of the era is, of course, Parliament Hill, dominated by the impressive Parliament Building, built in 1877 in a Second Empire style inspired by the Louvre of Napoleon III. Its facade is decorated with 24 bronze statues representing key figures in Quebec's history. This reappropriation of heritage by the nation is also expressed in the monumental Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, inspired by the model of the Trinité in Paris, and long considered the national monument of French Canadians. Other examples of this architectural eclecticism include the Italian neoclassical customs administration building on the Old Port and the Krieghoff House, built in 1840 in the purest style of English colonial homes in the South, with its curved roof extending over a long gallery.
Modernism and post-modernism
At the beginning of the 20th century, the city's urban planning was again transformed under the impetus of this new industrial era. Some arteries were widened, the city walls were lowered to create new perspectives and new green spaces were created. The goal was to beautify the city while improving living conditions. In the 1930s, the city got its first skyscraper, thePrice Building, an Art Deco gem with clean lines that emphasized verticality and stylized ornamentation in geometric patterns. In the 1950s, the suburbs developed massively, especially with the creation of new highways. At that time, the preferred type of housing was the bungalow, a small house in the Californian tradition inspired by the Prairie Houses of Frank Lloyd Wright. The creation of the Université Laval campus and the first shopping centre in Sainte-Foy also contributed to the development of the suburbs. Alongside these uniform buildings, the city saw the emergence of atypical villas, astonishing witnesses to the modernism advocated by the international style. The Maison Kerhulu, on Chemin Saint-Louis, is a very fine example, with its simple lines, flat roof, smooth stucco façade and its assembly of distinct volumes expressing the interior functions of the rooms. Another fine example is the Robitaille residence, whose architecture was entirely designed to suit the site and the needs of the residents. Subsequently, the architects of the city, which has had its own school of architecture since 1960, tried to preserve its heritage, but this was not without controversy, as was the case with the restoration of Place Royale, which many consider to be nothing more than a historical reconstruction used as part of a campaign to re-franctify Quebec. What we see of Place Royale is in fact a reinvention of what it was before 1759 and this "French Regime" revival style did not please everyone! Quebec's history is complex... and so is its architecture. Recently, it was another pharaonic project that was the talk of the town. The "Lighthouse of Quebec", the brainchild of a real estate developer, was a densification project, that is to say a vertical neighborhood that could accommodate tens of thousands of people. It consisted of four towers, one of which was 250 meters high. However, the project was abandoned and will be replaced by HUMANITI of the Montreal developer COGIR Immobilier.
