Jul 25, 2010 | Posted in Blog, Life, Photography, Travel

Historic Château Tours In Montreal

As a designer, I have always loved and appreciated different types of architectural styles. One of the first things I will pay extreme attention to in a new city is the architecture. Located near Rue Notre-Dame is the famous Château Ramezay. It is one of the most charming and well preserved historic buildings that I had visited. This building was built in 1705 as the the residence of Claude de Ramezay, the Governor of Montréal. It's distinctive and simple architecture includes a sloping roof, stone wall and beautiful garden. Today the building has been converted into a historical museum and features a collection of 18th and early 19th century furniture and other historic artifacts.

(Château Ramezay Entrance)

(A miniature of Château Ramezay)

One of the highlights of this visit was the English guided tour of the Museum. I got to walk through all of the rooms with our guide. Each room has a historic story and artifacts relating to Montreal. The first room exhibits the first inhabitants of the Island of Montreal. The guide explained that when Jacques Cartier first arrived, he was greeted by nearby native American villagers. Jacques misunderstood the villages and thought the village name was "Hochelaga." What he actually heard was “Oshahaka” which means “people of the hand."

(The story of the “Oshahaka” which means “people of the hand," photo by Akito)

In the next room, I saw more paintings, models, maps and historic artifacts. One of my favorite is the first car of Quebec with the license plate of Q1. Across form the car there is a photo on the wall dating back to 1884 from the Montreal Winter Carnival. I guess Canadians were trying to make winter as fun as possible. On the right side of that wall there is the Montreal Coat of Arms, Concordia Salus. It was made by Jacques Viger in 1933. The idea is to express the desire for the harmonious coexistence between French, English, Scots and Irish. He used the beaver as the cultural symbol for French, which is no longer in use in the modern days.

(Fashion for the upper class)

(Items belong to the upper class)

(The first car in Quebec)

(Standing next to the Q1 car)

(Montreal Coat of Arms, Concordia Salus)

We followed the guide to the basement area where we saw how the French colonists used to live. The guide explained that they have one big room similar to our studio apartment (all in one). The roller on the upper right allowed them to grill their food. It's connected by a string to the fireplace. They put a dog and a bone inside the roller to let the dog run for it. This helps them grill the food without having to turn it.

(The roller and the fire place as described above)

(A folded chair/table used by the family, could it be the 1st Ikea invention?)

(They need to go out to get the water everytime so they made the sink very low to save the water usage)

(The worker posing for me outside the garden area)

Château Dufresne one of my other favorite architectures. It's the former residence of the Dufresne brothers. They were wealthy French Canadian business men who asked Jules Renard to design their mansion. The interior of the mansion was decorated with murals and ceiling paintings by Guido Nincheri in the 1920s. On the ground floor there is an exhibition that explained more of the history and featured objects from that period. Overall it's a fun tour that takes you back to the 19th century period.

(Left is the furniture photo and the right is photo before renovation)

(The ground floor exhibition)

(The ground floor exhibition)

(The beautiful plates own by them)

(Interior design)

(Cups from that historic period)