Clarendon Hotel
Encyclopedia
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
in the historic part of Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. It is the oldest continuously operating hotel in the city.
The original building, on the corner of Rue Sainte-Anne and des Jardins, was a house built in 1858 and designed by Charles Baillairgé
Charles Baillairgé
Charles Baillairgé was an architect, land surveyor, civil engineer, and an author.He was from a long line of sculptors, painters, and architects that began with his great grandfather, Jean Baillairgé....
. Originally built as a 4-storey house, it was almost immediately sold to Queen's Printers George-Édouard Desbarats
George-Édouard Desbarats
George-Édouard-Amable Desbarats was an influential Canadian printer and inventor.-Early life:He was born in Quebec, to George-Paschal Desbarats and Henriette Dionne. He was sent to College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts 1846...
and Stewart Derbishire
Stewart Derbishire
Stewart Derbishire was the first elected representative for Bytown for the Province of Canada.He was born in England around 1794. He studied law and was called to the bar in 1830. He later worked for a time as a journalist and fought in the Spanish Civil War in 1837...
. The building hosted the printers (and various smaller businesses) until 1870, when it became the Russel House hotel, which was sold in 1894, and renamed the Clarendon Hotel. The hotel changed hands again several times until it became part of the Dufour Group hotels.
Important extensions and modifications were made to the building during the 20th century: two extra floors with mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
and a six-floor Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
extension at 57 Rue Sainte-Anne where the main entrance, originally on des Jardins, was relocated. Soon after, another extension was built to enlarge the hotel. The hotel boasts a fine French restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
, Le Charles Baillairgé, and a bar, L'Emprise, were renowned live jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
shows used to be helpd until 2006.
The main architectural interest of the building is its brick Art Deco façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
, completed in 1927 and designed by Raoul Chênevert. It also has Art nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
grilles and canopy, giving it a unique combination of styles. Built a few years before neighbouring Édifice Price
Edifice Price
The Édifice Price is an 18-floor skyscraper in Quebec City, Canada. Built in 1930-1931 amid controversy for Price Brothers ltd., it is the tallest building in the Old Quebec historical district, and one of the oldest skyscrapers in Canada...
, its decoration is more geometric than figurative. The building still keeps its wicket
Wicket gate
A wicket gate is a small gate or door, particularly one built into a larger one. The cricket term "wicket" comes from this usage. The term wicket gate is also used in English to refer to automatic ticket barriers or older staffed ticket gates on Japan's railway network...
entrance.
The hotel serves as a backdrop to Nicole Brossard
Nicole Brossard
Nicole Brossard, O.C. is a leading French Canadian formalist poet and novelist.She lives in Outremont, a former city in Montreal, Quebec. She wrote her first collection in 1965, Aube à la maison. The collection L'Echo bouge beau marks a break in the evolution of her poetry...
's novel Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon .
External links
- Official website
- Hotel Claredon a Yahoo Travel
- Postal card: Clarendon Hotel, date unknown. Quebec National Archives
- Postal card: Ladies' Drawing room, date unknown. Quebec National Archives
