With its numerous restaurants, bars and sidewalk patios, this elegant, tree-lined street is the heart of Québec City's nightlife. Steve and I were just wondering about where the bars were. It's wild they are all on one beautiful street.
In the 17th century, Grande Allée was a country road linking the governor's residence on Cape Diamant to Cap-Rouge, 6.2 miles to the west. In the mid-19th century, the city's wealthier residents began to build homes along Grande Allée in order to flee the epidemics and fires that were a common hazard within the stone fortifications.
In 1871, when Canada was still a young country, the Québec government purchased a sizable lot destined to be the site of the Parliament Building. This drew several notable figures to the area, who built their homes nearby in Second Empire style. Today, many of these dwellings still stand.
The homes introduced us to some of the local movers and shakers. This was the home of Louis S. St. Laurent (1882-1973). He had this house built in 1913 and lived in it until his death. After a brilliant career of over 35 years as a lawyer and several political positions, he became Prime Minister of Canada (1948-1957). His constitutional expertise, his achievements on the international scene, and his social and economic policies transformed Canada into a modern nation open to the world. He is described as "A Great Architect of Modern Canada".This is something one does not see every day... "The private detective agency Michel Corneau puts at your service more than 30 years of experience in the field of private investigations, shadowing, surveillance, infiltration, research and location of property or individuals."We also met this dapper fellow, Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872), one of the most famous Canadian painters of the 19th century. Born in Amsterdam, he came to Canada in 1840 where he would complete nearly 2000 paintings inspired by his adopted country. In a style reminiscent of Dutch genre painting, he depicted picturesque hunting and fishing trips, journeys by sleigh, Aboriginal traditions, and scenes of rural life in Québec, often marked with humor and gaiety. His romantic vision of Canada, extremely popular at the time, continues to fascinate.Today's exploration goal was to visit Église de Saint-Dominique.The friars from the Dominican Order came to the city in 1906. Their arrival was late compared to other religious missionaries. On Christmas Day in 1930, they celebrated their first Mass inside Saint-Dominique Church. From the exterior, the Roman Catholic church looks much older thanks to its English Gothic Revival design by Joseph-Albert LaRue. This style, also called Victorian Gothic, originated in England during the 18th century.I was taken with the stained-glass windows. These masterpieces were designed and created by master glass artist Théodore Hanssen (who also produced windows for Notre-Dame-de-Paris and Luxembourg Cathedral) and produced by F. Chigot in Limoges, France (1933).And just what are Dominicans? "The Order of Preachers abbreviated OP, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right founded in France, by a Spanish priest, saint and mystic, Dominic. It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216 in France." I learn something new every day!This water fountain, sculpted by Charles-Auguste Lebourg in 1872, reminds me so much of Paris. And there is good reason (and a long explanation). In Paris, during the Franco-Prussian war, water was in short supply. This was a major problem for the poor, and the temptation to turn to alcohol was even greater, as it was actually cheaper than water, and it was considered a moral duty for people to help keep the poor from falling into this deadly trap.
So the idea of wealthy Richard Wallace, was to provide the poor and needy with drinking water throughout the city, yet he wanted them to also look nice, as well as be of benefit to the people. He wanted the designs to adhere to strict guidelines such as the height, where they could be seen, yet not too large to become an eyesore, and also aesthetically pleasing, as well as be practical and in logical places. The color chosen was green, which was determined by the city of Paris, as this was to blend in with the scenery. The material chosen was cast iron because it was less expensive than some other materials and was robust, yet easy to mold into shape in a short period of time, as Richard Wallace wanted the project completed as quickly as possible. He then called upon the sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg to improve upon the drawings for the large model of fountain, and he came up with the idea of creating four models of ladies that would each differ slightly and were to represent kindness, simplicity, charity and sobriety.
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