The Clarendon Hotel, or Clarendon House (french: Hôtel Clarendon), is a high-end

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

in the historic neighbourhood of

Old Quebec Old Quebec (french: Vieux-Québec) is a historic neighbourhood of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Comprising the Upper Town (french: Haute-Ville) and Lower Town (french: Basse-Ville), the area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Administratively, Old ...

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. It is the oldest continuously operating hotel in the city. The original building, on the corner of Rue Sainte-Anne and des Jardins, was a house built in 1858 and designed by

Charles Baillairgé Charles Baillairgé (29 September 1826 – 10 May 1906) was an architect, land surveyor, civil engineer, and an author. He was from a long line of sculptors, painters, and architects that began with his great grandfather, Jean Baillairgé. He wa ...

. It was built as a four-storey house, and was almost immediately sold to Queen's Printers

George-Édouard Desbarats George-Édouard-Amable Desbarats (5 April 1838 – 18 February 1893) was an influential Canadian printer and inventor. Life and career The Desbarats were an established printing family. The first of the family to settle was Joseph Desbarats f ...

and

Stewart Derbishire Stewart Derbishire (1794 or 1795 – March 27, 1863) was the first elected representative for Bytown in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. Born in England, he was a strong Whig. At various times he was an ensign in the B ...

. The building hosted the printers (and various smaller businesses) until 1870, when it became the Russel House hotel, which was sold in 1894, and renamed the Clarendon Hotel. The hotel changed hands again several times until it became part of the Dufour Group hotels. Important extensions and modifications were made to the building during the 20th century: two extra floors with

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

and a six-floor

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

extension at 57 Rue Sainte-Anne where the main entrance, originally on des Jardins, was relocated. Soon after, another extension was built to enlarge the hotel. The hotel boasts a fine French restaurant, Le Charles Baillairgé, and a bar, L'Emprise, were renowned live

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

shows used to be held until 2006. The main architectural interest of the building is its brick Art Deco

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

, completed in 1927 and designed by Raoul Chênevert. It also has

Art nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

grilles and canopy, giving it a unique combination of styles. Built a few years before neighbouring

Édifice Price The Édifice Price ( en, Price Building) is an 18-floor (originally 16) skyscraper in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Built in 1928–1931 amid controversy for Price Brothers Limited, it is the tallest building in the Old Quebec historical distric ...

, its decoration is more geometric than figurative. The building still keeps its

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

entrance. The hotel serves as a backdrop to

Nicole Brossard Nicole Brossard (born November 27, 1943) is a leading French-Canadian formalist poet and novelist. Her work is known for exploration of feminist themes and for challenging masculine-oriented language and points of view in French literature. She ...

's novel ''Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon'' (french: Hier).

References

* * * * * *

External links

*
Hotel Clarendon
from Yahoo! Travel
Postal card: Clarendon Hotel
date unknown. Quebec National Archives
Postal card: Ladies' Drawing room
{Dead link, date=July 2020, bot=InternetArchiveBot, fix-attempted=yes , date unknown. Quebec National Archives Hotels in Quebec City Old Quebec Art Deco architecture in Canada Houses completed in 1858 Hotel buildings completed in 1925 Hotels established in 1870 Art Nouveau architecture in Canada Art Nouveau hotels Canadian companies established in 1870 1870 establishments in Quebec