QUEBEC CITY SITES

                                     Upper Town

     Many cities now have walking tours. Many are free. In Quebec City they come in both French and English, and perhaps a couple other languages. One can reserve for a tour through the Chamber of Commerce. We found the tour most pleasant and loaded with local history and information.

     Upper Town was the home of dignitaries, religious and political leaders, where Lower Town contains the oldest neighborhood in North America. Once crowded with traders, workers and the disenfranchised, now it is a delightful restored smart shopping and historical area. Quebec City is much smaller than Montreal, so we were able to see several things in a short period of time.

  Chateau Frontenac: Standing high on a bluff overlooking the mighty St. Lawrence River, the chateau is not merely a hotel located in the heart of Old Québec--- it is the heart of Old Québec. It sits on the site of the 1620 Chateau St. Louis, a residence for colonial governors. The story book castle hotel is one of several luxury hotels built by the Canadian-Pacific Railway in 1893. It is the indomitable symbol of the city. Luxurious for its time, the rooms contained bathrooms, fireplaces and marble fixtures.

      The park in front of the hotel is the Place d’ Armes. For centuries the square atop the cliff was used for parades and military events. Upper Town’s most central location is bordered by government buildings, including the Old Courthouse, 1887, a Renaissance-style building. The Gothic fountain, 1650, at the center pays tribute to the arrival in 1615 of Franciscan monks of the Recollet order. The monk holds an ear of corn in one hand and a cross in the other.

      Across the street is a larger-than-life stature of Champlain, 1567-1635, who eventually became Governor of New France.

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a stone church dating back to 1804. One of the first Anglican cathedrals to be built outside of the British Isles, it has a simple dignified façade and is modeled after London’s Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields. The land was originally given to French Franciscan monks in 1681 by the king of France. When Quebec came under British rule the monks made the church available to the Anglicans for services.  The church houses precious objects donated by King George III. The wood for the oak benches was imported from the Royal Forest at Windsor. The impressive organ has 3,058 pipes.  The eight bells in the bell tower date to 1804.   

The Edifice Price, 1929, was the city’s first skyscraper. The 15-stoy building served as the headquarters of the Price Brothers Company, a lumber firm founded by Sir William Price. Inside exquisite copper plaques depict scenes of the company’s early pulp and paper activities. Two maple-wood elevators are a 30’s classic. The building is linked to city hall by a tunnel, and the governor has a functional apartment at the top of the building.

Notre Dame Basilica, 1647, also known as Our Lady of Quebec Basilica, has the oldest parish in North America. The church has been destroyed twice. In 1759 cannons from Levis, across the river, damaged it during the siege of Quebec. In 1922 fire destroyed the second church, but each time it was rebuilt on its original foundation. The façade is classical-style. The large and famous crypt holding 900 bodies, including 20 bishops and four governors, was the city’s first cemetery. Champlain is believed to be buried near the Basilica. The church has only one tower as the ground was not solid enough to support a tower on the left side. The ornate interior includes a ceiling of clouds decorated with gold leaf and richly colored stain glass. The oldest piece in the Cathedral is a sanctuary lamp that was a gift from Louis XIV.

Masion Maillou is the colony’s former treasury building. Its sharply slanted roof, dormer windows, concrete chimneys, shutters with iron hinges, and limestone walls typifies the architecture of New France. Built between 1736-1753, it now houses the chamber of commerce. The green roof and turquoise shutters are hard to miss. The house next to it with a royal blue canopy and a big 25 on the front is Maison Kent, 1648-50. The capitulation of Quebec was signed there in 1759.

Clarendon Hotel is the oldest hotel in Upper Town. The house on the hotel site was converted into a tavern in 1790. In 1858 a printer built four identical houses and set up his presses in the common main floors. In 1866 a well known architect converted the four houses into one building. In 1870 the building was converted into the Clarendon Hotel. It has been sold several times and in 1924 an additional floor was added.  In 1930 a seven floor annex was built next door. The art décor was generally pleasing. The fellow behind the desk was friendly and talkative and was happy to give us a paper with the history of the hotel. We  found everyone we came in contact with to be friendly and pleasant.

Terrasse Dufferin boardwalk offers views of the rooftops of Lower Town directly below. Constructed in 1878, this wide walkway has an intricate wrought-iron rail. The walkway offers a panoramic view of the St. Lawrence River and the town of Levis on the opposite shore. It extends from Place d’ Armes to the Citadel.  Lord Dufferin was an English governor who lowered the walls and widened the gates. The Terrace extends three miles passing the Citadel and Plains of Abraham.

Much of the city’s military history lies beyond the walls. The Citadel is built on the city’s highest point called Camp Diamant. It and its 25 buildings is the largest fortified base in North America still occupied by troops. Since its completion in 1832, attacks against Quebec City have ended. The star shaped fort is the eastern flank of fortification.   Since 1920 the Citadel has been the home for the Royal 22^nd Regiment.

The Ursuline Convent is the site of North America’s oldest teaching institution for girls. The 1639 school is still a private one. The exterior of the chapel was rebuilt in 1902, but the interior contains the original chapel which took ten years to complete.

      Nuns from a cloistered order arrived in 1639. Parlour Street is so named because it led to the parlour which was the only place the nuns could meet outsiders. The first nun in New France became a nun after she was widowed. After leaving France, it took her three months to make the sea voyage. She wrote long detailed letters to her son. She sent the same letter on 3-4 ships so he would be certain to receive at least one copy.

     After her death, her son decided to publish her letters and they are now a true treasure that tells us what life was really like in the 17^th century. The nun also sat under a tree to teach Indians, so she came to know the First Nations people well. She also was the first to translate Iroquois into French. In 1967 the pope uncloistered the nuns.  About 70 nuns continue to live there, and their average age is 80.

      Jesuits arrived in 1662. They still maintain a private school, but now the one-time boys’ school has admitted girls.  Part of the seminary was under renovation as it will house a museum. The Jesuits established the first French-speaking university in North America.