Governors' Cottage National Historic Site of Canada
Sorel-Tracy, Quebec
Rear façade
© Agence Parcs Canada / Parks Canada Agency, 1973.
Address :
90 Chemin des Patriotes, Sorel-Tracy, Quebec
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1957-06-03
Dates:
-
1781 to 1781
(Construction)
-
1781 to 1860
(Significant)
Event, Person, Organization:
-
General D’Urban
(Person)
-
General Eyre
(Person)
-
Governor Dorchester
(Person)
-
Governor Prescott
(Person)
-
Governor Dalhousie
(Person)
-
Governor Aylmer
(Person)
-
Prince William Henry
(Person)
-
General de Riedesel
(Person)
-
General St. Leger
(Person)
-
General Brock
(Person)
-
General Colborne
(Person)
-
General Jackson
(Person)
-
General Haldimand
(Builder)
Other Name(s):
-
Governors' Cottage
(Designation Name)
Plaque(s)
Approved Inscription: Quebec
The American capture of Sorel in 1775 confirmed the strategic importance of this location. The Governor of the Province of Quebec acquired the seigneury (1780) and this house (1781) for the British Crown, with the intent of receiving Loyalists. Serving as a residence for the commander in chief of the colony’s armies, governors and commanders used it mainly in the summer, hosting distinguished guests such as Prince William Henry, the future King William IV. After the withdrawal of British imperial troops in the early 1860s, civilians lived in the house until it was purchased by the City of Sorel in 1921.
Description of Historic Place
The Governors’ Cottage National Historic Site of Canada is located on the banks of the Richelieu River in Sorel, Quebec. Originally occupied as a summer residence by the early British governors and military commanders of Quebec, the one-and-a-half-storey house has a traditional Quebec-style rectangular core flanked by wings, all under steep, front-sloping gable roofs. To the rear, an open verandah looks out over gardens that were once part of a larger seigneury. Official recognition refers to the house and its property.
Heritage Value
The Governors’ Cottage was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1957. It is designated because: General Haldimand built this house so that the commander in chief might reside in it during time of war; this house was then used as a summer residence by Governors and by commanders-in-chief.
The Governor Sir Frederick Haldimand acquired the seigneury of Sorel for the Crown in 1781 for defensive reasons, as a result of the American invasion of 1775, and as an area where soldiers, Loyalists and their families could be settled. The same year, he had a house built for General Riedesel, the core of the present cottage, to which wings were added at a later date. In 1787, Prince William Henry, later King William IV of the United Kingdom (r. 1830-1837), spent time in the house during a visit to the colony. Until 1860, it was used as a summer residence by Governors General Dorchester, Prescott, Dalhousie, and Aylmer, and by Commanders-in-Chief St. Leger, Brock, Colborne, Jackson, D’Urban and Eyre. After a succession of owners, the town of Sorel acquired the house in 1921. In April 1990 the Governor’s Cottage Exhibition Centre was inaugurated as a centre for artists.
Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, June 1957.
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements that contribute to the heritage character of this site include: its central location and park-like setting on the Richelieu River in the town of Sorel, Quebec; the simple Quebec vernacular design, with its rectangular, one-and-a-half storey original core, flanked by wings under steep, front-sloping gable roofs with end chimneys; the regular placement of openings with multi-pane, sash windows, dormer windows, the central entry with a formal, pillared, classically inspired porch protecting the main entrance, the verandah with columns and the small, second-floor balcony; surviving original materials and finishes, both exterior and interior, that reflect the period of its use as a residence for the commander-in-chief of the military and as a summer residence for the governors of Quebec, and any remaining evidence of the original domestic functional plan; the remains of the original grounds as a surrounding garden.