Château Vaudreuil () was a stately residence and college in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada. It was constructed between 1723 and 1726 for

Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil (; c. 1643 – 10 October 1725) was a French military officer who served as Governor General of New France (now Canada and U.S. states of the Mississippi Valley) from 1703 to 1725, throughout Queen Anne' ...

, as his private residence by Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry. Though the ''Château Saint-Louis'' in

Quebec City Quebec City 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 Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

remained the official residence of the Governors General of New France, the Château Vaudreuil was to remain as their official home in Montreal up until the

British Conquest The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Great Britain and France, along with their respective Native American allies. European historians generally consider it a related conflict of the wider ...

in 1763. In 1767, it was purchased by the Marquis de Lotbinière. He sold it in 1773, when it became the Collège Saint-Raphaël. It was destroyed by a fire in 1803. Completed in 1726, it was built in the classical style of the French

Hôtel Particulier () is the French term for a grand urban mansion, comparable to a Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse. Whereas an ordinary (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a ...

King Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

's chief engineer in

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

, Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry. The central building was flanked by two wings with two sets of semi-circular stairs leading up to a terrace and the main entrance. It stood beyond the end of Rue Saint-Paul, which was kept clear of buildings on that side to afford it a clear view, while

formal garden A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a form ...

s led up to

Notre-Dame Street Notre-Dame Street (officially in ) is a historic east–west street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It runs parallel to the Saint Lawrence River, from Lachine, Quebec, Lachine to the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal, island in Poi ...

. Following the fire in 1803, a group of merchants, led by The Hon. Jean-Baptiste Durocher and The Hon. Joseph Périnault, purchased the land. On the condition that it would be used for

public market A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from ...

s, they gave the government a small,

oblong An oblong is an object longer than it is wide, especially a non-square rectangle. Oblong may also refer to: Places * Oblong, Illinois, a village in the United States * Oblong Township, Crawford County, Illinois, United States * A strip of land ...

, strip of land (that had made up part of the

s), which was first named ''New Market Place'' and from 1847 became known as

Place Jacques-Cartier Place Jacques-Cartier (, ''Jacques Cartier Square'') is a square located in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an entrance to the Old Port of Montreal. Overview In 1723, the Château Vaudreuil was built for Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Va ...

. This canny deal made by the merchants had the effect of increasing the value of the adjacent properties built around the 'square', which remained in private hands.Montreal - Ulysses Travel Guides
/ref> In 1809,

Nelson's Column Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, Central London, built to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies, during whi ...

was built by the citizens of Montreal in what had been part of the Château's

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau Vaudreuil Demolished buildings and structures in Montreal

See also

References

External links