Quebec City Armoury
Encyclopedia
The Quebec City Armoury or Grande-Allée Armoury was a Gothic Revival drill hall
Drill hall
A drill hall is a place such as a building or a hangar where soldiers practice and perform military drill. In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, the term was also used for the whole headquarters building of a military reserve unit, which usually incorporated such a hall...

 for the infantry regiment Les Voltigeurs de Québec
Les Voltigeurs de Québec
Les Voltigeurs de Québec is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Forces. The name of the regiment commemorates another older French-Canadian militia light infantry unit, the Canadian Voltigeurs...

in 805 Wilfrid-Laurier Avenue East, 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...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was built between 1885 and 1888 and designed by architect Eugène-Étienne Taché
Eugène-Étienne Taché
Eugène-Étienne Taché was a French Canadian surveyor, civil engineer, illustrator and architect. He devised Quebec's provincial coat-of-arms and motto Je me souviens....

. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

The armoury was destroyed by a fire on April 5, 2008 and all but a rear wall and turrets from the front door were destroyed. Les Voltigeurs de Quebec Museum in the amoury which housed various artifacts from the regiment was also lost in the fire. Though, officials estimate 90 percent of the artifacts were saved due to efforts by members of the regiment and local firefighters.

The armoury was to have been one of the venues for the celebration of Quebec's 400th birthday.

The armoury wooden roof was one of the largest in Canada.

Calls have been made by politicians to rebuild the armoury, to which the federal government has responded positively by allocating $2 million for reconstruction planning.

In the fall of 2008, regiment members launched a lawsuit against the Department of National Defence
Department of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...

, blaming negligence on the part of the government for the blaze.
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