City preview · QUÉBEC CITY

Québec City’s castle hotel was built in stages

Château Frontenac was already welcoming guests when its central tower was completed in 1924. A former church now has bookshelves and rooms for writers. Across the river in Lévis, a family kitchen once served a credit union. In winter, canoe crews switch from paddles on water to crampon-clad feet on ice.

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Château Frontenac · Editorial illustration, not a historical photo

A castle hotel, a former church and two banks of the St. Lawrence

A later tower, church bookshelves, a kitchen counter and ice canoes

Four complete stories and their public sources are shown here; the rest of the collection is in the app.

01 · Château Frontenac

The tower came later

The hotel was open long before its tallest tower.

Château Frontenac’s most conspicuous central tower was not finished until 1924. The hotel had been welcoming guests for years, but construction continued through successive expansions. The first architect borrowed turrets, gables and steep roofs from the châteaux of France’s Loire Valley. Later additions kept using those features, so buildings added decades apart still look like one castle built at once.

Source: ville.quebec.qc.ca

02 · Maison de la littérature

A room to write in a former church

Reading moved upstairs; writers got rooms of their own.

Maison de la littérature occupies the former Wesley church, which had long been used for cultural activities. At one point the library was in the basement. After renovation, reading moved back into the tall church interior. The building also provides writing rooms and a comics and illustration studio; a new annex accommodates writers in residence.

Source: ville.quebec.qc.ca

03 · Maison Alphonse-Desjardins (Lévis)

A credit union in the kitchen

Home and business shared a house, with separate entrances.

The kitchen of this Lévis home once served as a credit union’s business space. Members and family used one building, but separate entrances helped keep business and private life apart. When Alphonse worked in Ottawa, Dorimène managed the credit union’s affairs at home. Operations later moved to a commercial building; the rooms here still explain the early arrangement.

Source: patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca Source: desjardins.com

04 · Canot à glace Expérience (Anse au Foulon)

Paddles on water, feet on ice

The crew changes its movement when the surface changes.

Ice-canoe crews learn two ways to move. On water they use long paddles. Once the canoe reaches ice, the paddles go back inside and crew members push together with crampon-clad feet. Guides here demonstrate both movements on shore before taking booked participants out.

Source: canotaglaceexperience.ca

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