Historic District of Old Québec

• Official Name: Historic District of Old Québec
• Location: Québec, Canada
• Year of Inscription: 1985

The Historic District of Old Québec is a portion of the City of Québec in the Québec Province of Canada. Often thought of as a bit of Old Europe in North America, the historic district covers approximately 1.35 kilometers, or just under a mile, representing about 5 percent of the entirety of Québec City. The buildings, including homes, stores, churches, museums, hotels, a castle-like château, and a defensive structure called the Citadel, date back as far as the seventeenth century. The cultural and historic value of the district earned it a place on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site list in 1985.

Several iconic structures define the district, which was founded in the 1600s. One is the Citadel, a star-shaped defensive structure built along the city’s St. Lawrence River shoreline to defend Québec after British positions there were attacked by Americans in 1775–1776. Another newer but still historic structure dominates the historic district’s Upper Town and the entirety of Québec. The Château Frontenac, a hotel built by railroad moguls at the end of the 1800s, resembles a castle perched above the city.

The district is the most intact fortified town and the only walled city in North America. It was the birthplace of French North America. Its fortified walls and ramparts, historic structures, architecture, and streets, as well as the historic events that occurred there make it a living reminder of the European colonization stage of North America, all in the midst of a thriving twenty-first-century city. These unique features earned it a place as a UNESCO World Heritage cultural site.

History

French explorer and navigator Samuel de Champlain began the history of the area when he chose a portion of what is now the Historic District of Old Québec along the St. Lawrence River as the site of his personal residence. He founded Québec on July 3, 1608, initiating the first French presence in North America. The first permanent structure completed was a wooden structure called the Habitation, located in what is now the Port Royale section of the Lower Town in the historic district. The Habitation served as a combination dwelling, warehouse, and trading post in a fort-like structure. The wooden house was later replaced by a U-shaped stone structure with turrets and a palisade, or defensive fence.

This structure was burned down and rebuilt in 1633 as a shop. It became the first of a series of buildings that developed into a public square filled with shops and homes that are now part of one of the oldest shopping areas in North America. Many of the earliest inhabitants of Old Québec were merchants or workers in the shipping trade that flourished along the St. Lawrence River. The port handled a variety of merchandise, including furs traded from North America; dry goods like fabric, clothing, tools, and dinnerware from France; and sugar, rum, and molasses from the southernmost American colonies.

Over time, however, the purpose of the port shifted to a more military focus with the construction of the Royal Battery in 1690, the Dauphine Battery in 1709, and the Pointe à Carcy Battery during the conflict between England and France known as the Seven Years War (1756–1763). Québec became the capital of New France, which eventually reached from the area around the city down to the Gulf of Mexico. Businesses flourished, creating wealth that allowed for the construction of homes and shops for the prosperous merchants throughout Québec’s Lower Town region along the waterfront.

During the mid-1600s, the Upper Town was becoming a hub of administrative, military, and religious structures. The Notre-Dame de Québec is a cathedral-basilica that was built in 1633, along with a Jesuit college in 1635; a seminary in 1663; and a Catholic hospital, Hôtel-Dieu, in 1639. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the population of this area had grown to 1,900, and the city was encircled by a stone wall.

Québec was unable to defend itself, however, during a British invasion in 1759. On September 13 of that year, British forces led by General James Wolfe scaled the cliffs near the city to face off against French forces on the Plains of Abraham in the Lower Town area. The French, led by Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, were defeated, and the British took over Québec. They would remain in control of the area until 1867. During their tenure, they converted the port area into a series of warehouses and factories, adding areas to cater to the region’s growing timber and shipbuilding trade. Saint-Pierre Street became a financial center roughly equivalent to America’s Wall Street, with the Québec Stock Exchange in operation by the beginning of the 1800s. At the same time, the Upper Town became a center of academic activity and home to many of the city’s professional occupations.

The Citadel—the large star-shaped defensive fortress—was under construction beginning in 1820 and continued until 1831. It was a key factor in defending a city population that reached 50,000 by the middle of the nineteenth century. This iconic structure was joined by the Château Frontenac, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway and opened as a hotel in 1893 as a way to encourage wealthy visitors to come to Québec. Built on an already historical site where the homes of governors had stood for decades, it became the most recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most photographed hotels in the world.

The twentieth century saw the construction of the city’s first skyscraper, the Price Building, in 1929. Built by a timber and lumber company, it remains the only skyscraper in Old Québec and is the official home of the provincial Premier. By the middle of the twentieth century, formal regulations were beginning to protect the area’s irreplaceable history. In the early 1960s, the Historic District of Old Québec gained protection as a National Historic Site and had its boundaries officially established by provincial order. This enabled the government to limit and oversee construction in the area with the intent of protecting its historic integrity. In 1985, UNESCO increased the protection of the area by making it a cultural World Heritage Site for meeting two of the ten possible criteria necessary.

Significance

The Historic District of Old Québec played a pivotal role in the history of the city, the Canadian nation, and North America. It was noteworthy from its earliest days because of its association with Champlain, the Frenchman who made more than a dozen trans-Atlantic voyages between Europe and America and is credited with founding both New France and the city of Québec. The city layout, buildings, and history provide a glimpse back into the days of European colonization of North America that cannot be found elsewhere.

The city’s role in history continued when it served as first the capital of New France and then of the British colony known as the Province of Québec. A strategic defensive location from the start, the city still has many of the fortified walls and ramparts that played an important part in the defense of the French and British capitals that it housed. These fortifications that once walled in and protected the city are unique in North America, making Old Québec both a historic treasure and a tourist attraction.

Past leaders of the area seemed to have a notion of the significance of these fortifications and made efforts to protect them. For example, the walls that surround the Upper Town could have been torn down in 1870 when the improvements were being made. Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, also known as Canadian Governor General Lord Dufferin, made the case to leave the walls standing, preserving them as a historic relic even though they no longer served a defensive purpose.

While the city has changed considerably and been modernized during its more than four centuries of existence, its layout and many of its structures maintain historical integrity. It contains a number of locations of great historic importance, covering its connection to Champlain; Canada’s political, religious, and financial past; and the defensive positions along the St. Lawrence to the Plains of Abraham, where the colony changed hands from France to Britain. In addition to historical and sentimental significance, the area also provides an opportunity for North Americans to step back in time and experience what it was like in the walled cities that were once common in parts of North America and Europe. Inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site helps to extend the history of this area into the future.

Bibliography

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“Historic District of Old Quebec.” National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/article/historic-district-old-quebec. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.

“Historic District of Old Québec.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org/en/list/300. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.

“Historic District of Old Québec.” Government of Canada, 19 Sept. 2023, www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/spm-whs/sites-canada/sec02i. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.

“Old Québec.” Destination Québec cité, www.quebec-cite.com/en/old-quebec-city. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.

Trudel, Marcel, et al. “Samuel de Champlain.” Canadian Encyclopedia, 11 June 2021, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/samuel-de-champlain. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.

Viau, Serge. “Old Quebec, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.” Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America, www.ameriquefrancaise.org/en/article-632/Old‗Quebec,‗a‗UNESCO‗World‗Heritage‗site.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.