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Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada

456 - 462 Notre Dame Street East, Montréal, Quebec, H2Y, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1964/10/27

Corner view of the Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada, showing the façades facing the road, 2004.; Parks Canada Agency/ Agence Parcs Canada, 2004.
General view
Interior view of the Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada, showing the surviving original interior decoration with its architectural woodwork and its distinction between private and public rooms, 1989.; Parks Canada Agency/Agence Parcs Canada, 1989.
Interior view
No Image

Other Name(s)

Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada
Sir George-Étienne Cartier
Sir George Étienne Cartier

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1836/01/01 to 1838/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2007/06/04

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

Located at the corner of Notre Dame and Berri streets, in downtown Montreal, this masonry building occupies a little more than half of its urban lot. The two semi-detached houses occupying this lot had been part of a three house urban terrace on what had been the site of the Montreal citadel . One part of the house presents the life and work of Father of Confederation George-Étienne Cartier, upper-middle class Montrealer, politician and Father of Confederation, and the other has been restored to present the domestic setting of the Cartier family during the 1860s.

Heritage Value

Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada was commemorated because:
- these two houses together served as the residence of a major Canadian political figure,
Sir George-Étienne Cartier,
- Cartier was the Prime Minister of the Province of Canada between 1858 and 1862;
- Cartier was one of the principal Fathers of Confederation
- Cartier was one of the most influential members of the first Canadian cabinet.

The heritage value of Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada resides in its association with George-Étienne Cartier, whose political career lasted from 1848 to 1873, and in its illustration of an upper-middle class Montreal home in the middle of the 19th century, showing both French and English architectural influences.

Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, June 2001; Commemorative Integrity Statement, 2004.

Character-Defining Elements

Key features contributing to the heritage value of this site include:
- evidence of the amalgamation of two neighbouring houses into one building under a falsemansard roof in the Second Empire style;
- the “east” house as it survived, amputated by some three metres in 1893;
- the covered passage serving the two neighbouring houses;
- the cut-stone facade and the rubble-stone rear elevation;
- the fire walls;
- the plan of the “west” house, including basement, ground floor and first floor;
- the vaulted side entry of the “west” house;
- the surviving original interior decoration with its architectural woodwork and its distinction between private and public rooms;
- the house as a rare surviving example of the fine workmanship and generous size of mid-19th-century houses around the former Dalhousie square, houses mostly destroyed by fire in 1852.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Federal

Recognition Authority

Government of Canada

Recognition Statute

Historic Sites and Monuments Act

Recognition Type

National Historic Site of Canada

Recognition Date

1964/10/27

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

1848/01/01 to 1873/01/01

Theme - Category and Type

Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
Architecture and Design
Governing Canada
Government and Institutions
Governing Canada
Politics and Political Processes

Function - Category and Type

Current

Leisure
Museum

Historic

Residence
Single Dwelling

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

National Historic Sites Directorate, Documentation Centre, 5th Floor, Room 89, 25 Eddy Street, Gatineau, Quebec

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

656

Status

Published

Related Places

General view

Sir George-Étienne Cartier House

Sir George-Étienne Cartier House is made up of two adjacent houses: the “east house” and the “west house.” The houses were originally separate but now form a single building. The…

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