100-Year Old Fire Devastates Fairmont Château Frontenac
- Les dommages sont limités à l'aile Riverview, mais ils sont tout de même considérables.
- A fire severely damaged the Château Frontenac hotel in Quebec City on December 29, 1926, destroying a significant portion of its west wing.
- The fire caused extensive damage to the wing, as documented in archival photos from the Ville de Québec.
On January 14, 1926, guests at the Château Frontenac in Quebec City were playing billiards when they smelled smoke. This was the beginning of a fire that fully ravaged the Riverview wing, the oldest part of the hotel. A look back 100 years.
It was around 5:30 p.m. when flames broke out in a room on the fifth floor. The two men playing billiards alerted the front desk, who then called the fire department, explains Jean-François Caron, a historian specializing in Quebec City.
“The firefighters will arrive quickly and we will realize that it is indeed quite critically important,” he recounts. “A general alarm will be sounded. All the firefighters in the city will come.”
The fire spread rapidly. Meanwhile, the hotel management, concerned, chartered a train “to bring firefighters from Montreal, who will pick up firefighters in Trois-Rivières along the way, who will arrive on site,” continues Mr. Caron.
Reconstruire… en 127 jours
Les dommages sont limités à l’aile Riverview, mais ils sont tout de même considérables. À l’époque,on les évalue à plus de 750 000 $,selon M. Caron.
Château Frontenac Wing Rebuilt in Under Six Months After 1926 Fire
A fire severely damaged the Château Frontenac hotel in Quebec City on December 29, 1926, destroying a significant portion of its west wing. The Canadian Pacific Railway, then the hotel’s owner, swiftly rebuilt the damaged section, completing the work in 127 days.
The fire caused extensive damage to the wing, as documented in archival photos from the Ville de Québec.
“We had the original plans from Bruce Price, the original architect of the Château Frontenac,” said Maxime Aubin, Director of Marketing at Fairmont le Château Frontenac. The reconstruction utilized these original blueprints to maintain the hotel’s architectural integrity.
Aubin emphasized the speed of the rebuild, stating, “It’s less than six months to rebuild a large part of the Château.”
The reconstruction wasn’t simply a restoration; it also included enhancements to the hotel’s appearance.According to Aubin, the goal was to “enhance its splendor and magnificence” while preserving the Château Frontenac’s unique identity and reputation as one of the world’s leading hotels.