In 1719, the château Saint-Louis retained a certain military character inherited from the previous century of war and the struggle for survival. At its core stood a salle des gardes (guardroom) flanked by a chambre (bedchamber) and antichambre (antechamber or anteroom) for the governor to the south and an office (pantry), garde manger (larder), and cuisine (kitchen) to the north. This configuration dated to circa 1700, when the governor-general, the comte de Frontenac, ordered a new stone residence built to replace the first château, a composite wood-stone structure built under the tenue of Charles Huault de Montmagny in 1647. For Frontenac, the governor-general's residence was an important symbol that consolidated his authority. Renovation of the château began in 1694 and signaled a new chapter in the history of the site. Although the first château Saint-Louis had been built to withstand English and Iroquois attack, Frontenac's new château emerged as a symbol of royal prestige and the refinement of the governor-general.
1724 plan, Archives nationales d'outre-mer (ANOM), Aix-en-Provence, France Returning to Québec in 1716 after two-year sojourn to France, Governor-General Philippe de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil (and father to Pierre de Rigaud), continued Frontenac's vision for an entirely refurbished château. Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry, the king's engineer posted to Canada, undertook a new design in the 1720s, which incorporated the earlier 1690s structure as a southern wing for the governor's apartments.
The 1724 floor plans bear witness to changes in elite colonial lifestyle and new social codes to which the colonial administration was expected to adhere. Rather than entering a guardroom, visitors to the new and improved château Saint-Louis found themselves in a salle, a multipurpose space that translates literally to "room" but is likely the salle de compagnie, or public entertaining space, documented in Pierre de Rigaud's 1771 inventory. Adjoining this space was a salle à manger (dining room). In a society where most people ate wherever they could find a seat, having a room designed and designated for dining purposes was extremely fashionable and harkened to metropolitan innovation. Access to the governor's bedchamber, reserved for important guests and used for business as much as sleeping, was buffered by an antichamber.
Philippe de Rigaud was the first governor-general of New France to inhabit the château with his family. Forty-seven years of age when he married an Acadian-born noblewoman, the seventeen-year old Louise Élisabeth de Joybert de Soulanges et Marson, in 1690, Vaudreuil fathered nine children who were raised within the walls of the château and in various religious institutions in Québec. Like the king and queen at Versailles, noble couples typically occupied separate chambers in elite homes, a fact underscored by the 1724 floor plan of the château Saint-Louis. Relegating the earlier kitchen, pantry, and larder to the cellars, Chaussegros de Léry designed a new southern pavilion (outlined in pink) to house the marquise's apartments, consisting of a suite of three bedchambers and a cabinet. This smaller, discreet space could be used as an office, a dressing room, for devotions and prayer, or for quiet study and intimate conversation.
Period correspondence reveals the important role played by the marquise de Vaudreuil in renovating the château in the early eighteenth century. Although Frontenac launched the major renovation and reconstruction of the château, I'm interested in learning more about the marquise's requests for rooms, servants, and a personal apartment.
The 1724 floor plans bear witness to changes in elite colonial lifestyle and new social codes to which the colonial administration was expected to adhere. Rather than entering a guardroom, visitors to the new and improved château Saint-Louis found themselves in a salle, a multipurpose space that translates literally to "room" but is likely the salle de compagnie, or public entertaining space, documented in Pierre de Rigaud's 1771 inventory. Adjoining this space was a salle à manger (dining room). In a society where most people ate wherever they could find a seat, having a room designed and designated for dining purposes was extremely fashionable and harkened to metropolitan innovation. Access to the governor's bedchamber, reserved for important guests and used for business as much as sleeping, was buffered by an antichamber.
Philippe de Rigaud was the first governor-general of New France to inhabit the château with his family. Forty-seven years of age when he married an Acadian-born noblewoman, the seventeen-year old Louise Élisabeth de Joybert de Soulanges et Marson, in 1690, Vaudreuil fathered nine children who were raised within the walls of the château and in various religious institutions in Québec. Like the king and queen at Versailles, noble couples typically occupied separate chambers in elite homes, a fact underscored by the 1724 floor plan of the château Saint-Louis. Relegating the earlier kitchen, pantry, and larder to the cellars, Chaussegros de Léry designed a new southern pavilion (outlined in pink) to house the marquise's apartments, consisting of a suite of three bedchambers and a cabinet. This smaller, discreet space could be used as an office, a dressing room, for devotions and prayer, or for quiet study and intimate conversation.
Period correspondence reveals the important role played by the marquise de Vaudreuil in renovating the château in the early eighteenth century. Although Frontenac launched the major renovation and reconstruction of the château, I'm interested in learning more about the marquise's requests for rooms, servants, and a personal apartment.