Chatea Frontenac, the symbol of Quebec

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The Chateau Frontenac

The grand hotel of Chateau Frontenac is without a doubt one of the most popular architectural attractions in Quebec. Built in the style of a mountain chateau, the hotel was constructed as a part of a series of similar hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company. The series of luxury hotels was a part of the railway company's larger strategy to attract higher end clientele to use their transportation facilities and accommodations.

Opened in 1893, the building was designed by Bruce Price, an American architect who was also responsible for the design of Windsor Station in Montreal. Price was recruited for the massive project by the Canadian Pacific Railways after the company had observed his work on the parlor window cars of American railroad companies and some of his earlier buildings, including the Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, Canada. The hotel is named after an early governor of colonial New France during the late 17th century by the name of Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac.

The architecture of the Chateau Frontenac is inform by a style that is often referred to as neo-chateau. This style is known for the incorporation of Scottish baronial elements, with a particular focus on the use of towers and turrets. Although Canada's railway systems were the first Canadian businesses to really embrace the neo-chateau style after admiring the Windsor Station hotel, this style soon became Canada's signature architectural style for luxury hotels, and one can still see the influence of buildings like the Chateau Frontenac upon the architecture of Canada's newest luxury hotels and ski lodges.

Today, the Chateau Frontenac holds the honor of being the most photographed hotel in the entire world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Located at the top of a spot looking over the city and river below, the Chateau Frontenac sits just a short distance away from the Citadelle. The hotel provided accommodations to both Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt when the world leaders visited Quebec in 1943 to discuss World War II with Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King during the historic Quebec Conference. Incidentally, it was at this conference that Churchill and Roosevelt made a secret pact to share nuclear research between the two countries, and historians speculate that their staff members may have hammered out a deal at the Chateau Frontenac out of site of the eyes of the Canadian government.

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