Fairmont Hotels and Resorts no relation Quebec City
The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, commonly referred to as the Château Frontenac, is a historic hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The hotel is situated in Old Quebec, within the historic district's Upper Town, on the southern side of Place d'Armes. The Château Frontenac was designed by Bruce Price, and was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company. The hotel is managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
Opened in 1893, the Châteauesque-styled building has 18 floors; its 79.9-metre (262-foot) height is augmented by the 54 m (177 ft) elevation it sits at. It is one of the first completed grand railway hotels, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981. The hotel was expanded on three occasions, with the last major expansion taking place in 1993.Design
Architecture
The Château Frontenac is one of Canada's grand railway hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Châteauesque architectural style used throughout the hotel would later serve as a template for other Canadian grand railway hotels erected in the late-19th to early-20th century. The central fortress-like tower design is derived from medieval chateaux found throughout France's Loire Valley. Châteauesque elements include the hotel's asymmetrical profile, with steeply pitched roofs, massive circular and polygonal towers and turrets, ornate gables and dormers, and tall chimneys. The exterior base of the hotel is largely made of grey stone ashlar, with steel framing running up the building, Glenboig brick cladding. Materials that make up the interior of the building includes mahogany panelling, marble staircases, carved stone, wrought iron, and glass roundels. However, as opposed to the other Châteauesque-styled buildings found in France, the Château Frontenac did not utilize elements of Italianate architecture, instead placing a greater emphasis on Gothic elements. The hotel also draws certain elements from Victorian style of architecture, with rich polychromatic surfaces throughout its exterior.Built in 1892–93, the Château Frontenac was originally designed by architect Bruce Price. Price's plan called for a horseshoe-shaped hotel, made up of four wings of unequal length, connected at obtuse angles. Public rooms made up the majority of the first two floors of Price's designs. The original proposal called for a square structure, however the completion of the Terrasse Dufferin led to the development for a more picturesque building. Since its completion, the hotel has undergone several major expansions and renovations led by several different architects and architectural firms. William Sutherland Maxwell led two major expansions to the hotel, one in 1908–09, and another in 1920–24 (co-led with his brother, Edward Maxwell). Renovations in the 1990s was led by one of Canada's most successful firm- Arcop, an architectural firm based in Montreal. The hotel was again expanded in 1993, with the addition of a new wing who was led at the time by a young architect but now , one of the most respected architect in the hotel and hospitality business in Canada Robert LaPierre, Member of the 2011 Fellows - Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.1890s–present
The Château Frontenac was completed in 1893, and was designed by American architect Bruce Price and overseen by William Van Horne, the Canadian Pacific Railway's general manager and a key developer of the Canadian railway hotel system. The hotel was a part of a series of Chateauesque-styled hotels built for the Canadian Pacific Railway company during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The last of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Chateauesque hotels was completed in 1908, leaving the rival company Grand Trunk Railway to continue the trend. The hotel was expanded in 1924 to designs by William Sutherland Maxwell. The 1924 expansion saw the addition of the hotel's central tower, which was built by Anglin-Norcross of Montreal. The hotel was named after Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, who was the Governor General of New France from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to 1698.