Fairview House · Photo: Cantons-de-l'Est · CC BY-SA 3.0
89historic places on the registers
History of Gatineau · Canada’s heritage registers
Heritage in Gatineau: 89 historic places, 7 of the highest rank
Among the places are 65 municipal citations, 16 Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings and a provincial or municipal listing. Of the dated places, Saint James cemetery is the oldest, from 1820.
See Gatineau today and before 1950: 76 photos, 11 old pictures
The photos cover 77 of Gatineau’s designated places; the rest keep their register record. 7 of Gatineau’s places also have old views on their own pages. Of Gatineau’s most honoured places, 5 are photographed.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Through time
Gatineau from 1830 to 1938
Here in time order: 4 old photographs of the town, along with the oldest views of 7 of its historic places. Every picture opens full screen, credit and all.
182518501875190019251950Before ConfederationConfederation to 1900Boom yearsThe wars and betweenAfter the war
Public domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.
How it began
Gatineau’s record begins in 1800
Rail service is on record from 1877, when Masson railway station opened. In 2002 the municipality took over from Aylmer and Hull. The date Wikidata keeps for Gatineau is 1800; whether it was a founding or a legal act, the entry leaves open.
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designationsProvincial and local listings400 m from Édifices E.-B.-Eddy
3 of 7within 400 m of Édifices E.-B.-Eddy, the heart of the town’s history
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The 89, by tier
7 Highest designations16 Other federal designations66 Provincial and local listings
The federal directory and the Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec are both open, so every federal, provincial and municipal designation here has its point.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
7 places in Gatineau with the highest designation
Their designations span 1976 to 2012. The group holds 4 places classified by Québec, 2 Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and a National Historic Site. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Charron House is the earliest, from 1832; the latest dates from 1963. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. They were designated between 1984 and 2006. Each one opens its own page.
Streets with three or more places on the registers, by the address each gives.
Chemin d'Aylmer14 on the registers
Barnes Road6 on the registers
Chemin Eardley5 on the registers
Rue du Couvent4 on the registers
Boulevard Alexandre-Taché4 on the registers · 3 top designations
Promenade du Portage3 on the registers
Rue Bancroft3 on the registers
Street addresses: 87 of the 89.
What’s designated
Gatineau’s record leans to houses: 47%
All told, 8 kinds of place appear. Across Canada public buildings are 11% of the designated places; here only 4%. Next come churches and religious buildings: 9.
Houses42
Churches and religious buildings9
Mills, shops and works7
Public buildings4
Stations, lighthouses and bridges2
Forts and military buildings2
Theatres, museums and memorials1
Other places22
The groups come from each place’s name and its recorded functions, by what it was built as.
Provincial and local listings
66 local listings in Gatineau
The first was designated in 1997, the latest in 2011. By designation: 65 municipal citations and a provincial or municipal listing. Citations the municipality has made, registered with Québec’s ministry of culture. Each one opens its own page.
Most of Gatineau’s dated places come from the decades after Confederation
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
British North America 1760–186631
After Confederation 1867–191333
Wars and Depression 1914–194510
Since 1946 1946 on6
31 of the 80 dated places were built before Confederation.
When designated
Over half of Gatineau’s places were designated in 1997
The places by the year of their designation.
1997 · 492006 · 161985 · 8
1960198020002020
The first was Symmes Hotel, in 1976. 49 came in 1997. 4 have been added since 2011.
Homes by age
Gatineau is still building: 7% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Gatineau’s homes are older than 2001. At 13%, Gatineau’s share of pre-1961 homes is under the typical town’s 18%. Gatineau’s largest group of homes, 30%, went up from 1981 to 2000.
13%
Before 1961
27%
1961–80
30%
1981–2000
24%
2001–15
7%
2016–21
GatineauTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
The registers count 89 historic places in Gatineau, 7 with the highest designation, Symmes Hotel first. Its places of the highest designation cluster together: 3 of them stand within 400 m of Édifices E.-B.-Eddy. Chemin d'Aylmer has the most: 14 historic places.
Its oldest homes, those from before 1961, are 13% of the total, against 18% in the typical town. Of 88 designations, 49 came in 1997. The rest is about typical: its past has one life on the record, Stanley Stanyar (1905).
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
•
Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
•
The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
•
People and events. Persons of national historic significance come with no location; a town gets one only by birthplace (name and both life years agreeing) or by one of its own places that bears the name and whose record tells the story. Events, which can’t be tied, are left out.
•
Québec’s register. The Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec is open data, so the province’s own designations and its municipalities’ citations are here in full.
•
The federal register. Federal places come from Parks Canada’s directory, which counts National Historic Sites, federal heritage buildings, stations and lighthouses; their statements are the register’s own.
•
Protection. In Québec, a classement or a municipal citation under the Loi sur le patrimoine culturel protects the building in law; a federal designation recognises significance and binds only federal owners.
Questions about Gatineau’s history
Which places in Gatineau have the highest designation?
They are Symmes Hotel, Wright-Scott House, National Printing Bureau and Heating Plant, Fairview House, Riverview and Édifices E.-B.-Eddy, and 1 more.
What is the oldest building in Gatineau?
Saint James cemetery (Cited heritage site (Québec)): the first construction date on its record is 1820.
How old are the homes in Gatineau?
Before 1961: 13% of its homes; the typical town has 18%.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada). Québec register data: Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, CC BY 4.0.
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec (MCC, Données Québec) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Fairview House · Photo: Cantons-de-l'Est · CC BY-SA 3.0
Site patrimonial de la Maison-Wright-Scott
Symmes Hotel
Édifices E.-B.-Eddy
Moorside, Forge
Collège Saint-Alexandre de la Gatineau+71See all photos
c. 1830
1841
1870
1904
1906
1910
1910
1912
c. 1920
c. 1927
c. 1938
Top
Top
Top
Top
Top