TopDeclared heritage site (Québec)Site patrimonial de CharlesbourgPhoto: Gilbert Bochenek · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Maison des Bédard · Photo: Sylvainbrousseau · CC BY-SA 3.07historic places on the registers
History of Charlesbourg · Canada’s heritage registers
Heritage in Charlesbourg: 7 historic places, 3 of the highest rank
On the list: 4 municipal citations. Charlesbourg’s 7.2 per 10,000 residents puts it ahead of 97% of Canadian towns. Go back to 1827 and you reach Église de Saint-Charles-Borromée, the oldest of them.
Historic places
7
7.2 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
3
National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements
Provincial and local listings
4
municipal citations on Québec’s register
Oldest building
1827
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
22%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Old and new: 7 photos and 1 old pictures of Charlesbourg
Maison des Bédard and Site patrimonial de Charlesbourg lead the set. Each of Charlesbourg’s designated places has a photo. The pictures are the work of 3 photographers.
Site patrimonial de Charlesbourg
Église de Saint-Charles-Borromée
696, boulevard Louis-XIV
648, boulevard Louis-XIV
7570, 1re Avenue+2See all photosPhotos 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
The old face of Charlesbourg
A single old picture: the oldest view of one of its historic places. Open it full screen with a tap.
c. 1900Public 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.
The map
Where Charlesbourg’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsProvincial and local listings
Dots open their places’ pages; hover first to read the name.
The 7, by tier
3 Highest designations4 Provincial and local listings
Federal designations come from Parks Canada; Québec’s own register adds what the province has classified and what the municipality has cited.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
3 places in Charlesbourg with the highest designation
Their dates run from 1827, with Église de Saint-Charles-Borromée, to 1850. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. The first was designated in 1959, the latest in 1978. Each one opens its own page.
TopClassified heritage building (Québec) · 1827–1830Église de Saint-Charles-Borromée7990 1e AvenuePhoto: Sylvainbrousseau · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopClassified heritage building (Québec) · 1850Maison des Bédard6541 avenue MonettePhoto: Sylvainbrousseau · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
What’s designated
In Charlesbourg, houses lead the list (29%)
Two of the highest-ranked are Site patrimonial de Charlesbourg and Église de Saint-Charles-Borromée.
Houses2
Churches and religious buildings1
Other places4
The groups come from each place’s name and its recorded functions, by what it was built as.
Provincial and local listings
4 local listings in Charlesbourg
Citations the municipality has made, registered with Québec’s ministry of culture. Their dates run from 1860, with Maison Arthur-Carmichael, to 1930. Each one opens its own page.
LocalMunicipal citation (Québec) · 1860Maison Arthur-Carmichael6985 1e AvenuePhoto: Bouchecl · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
LocalMunicipal citation (Québec) · 1913696, boulevard Louis-XIV696 boulevard Louis-XIVPhoto: Sylvainbrousseau · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
LocalMunicipal citation (Québec) · 19297570, 1re Avenue7570 1e AvenuePhoto: Bouchecl · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
LocalMunicipal citation (Québec) · 1930648, boulevard Louis-XIV648 boulevard Louis-XIVPhoto: Bouchecl · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
How old
In Charlesbourg, the years before Confederation left the most behind
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
British North America 1760–18663
After Confederation 1867–19131
Wars and Depression 1914–19452
Since 1946 1946 on0
Of the 6 with a date, 3 predate 1867.
Homes by age
Charlesbourg added few homes from 2016 to 2021: 2.6%, where most towns have 4.1%
Over half of the homes in Charlesbourg were already standing by 1981. Homes built from 1961 to 1980 make up 50% of Charlesbourg’s, against 27% in the typical town. Only 12% of Charlesbourg’s homes were built from 1981 to 2000, less than the typical town’s 23%.
22%
Before 1961
50%
1961–80
12%
1981–2000
11%
2001–15
2.6%
2016–21
CharlesbourgTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Towns its size
Charlesbourg has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 9,600 to 9,700 residents, by places on the registers.
Charlesbourg7
The typical town its size has 0. 10 of them have none.
Neighbours
Charlesbourg and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlesbourg | 9,660 | 7 | 3 | 1827 |
| Jésuites | 15,792 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Saint-Rodrigue | 12,018 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Orsainville | 14,751 | 2 | 2 | 1791 |
| Bourg-Royal | 14,430 | 2 | 0 | 1778 |
| Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf | 37,164 | 4 | 3 | 1684 |
| Lairet | 15,251 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
Charlesbourg in brief
Housing in Charlesbourg includes 22% built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. The lists come to 7 historic places, 3 with the highest designation, including Site patrimonial de Charlesbourg. Of the 16 towns closest in size, it has the most historic places. Dates cluster in the years before Confederation: 3 of 6. The rest is about typical: its places were designated between 1959 and 2000.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- People and events. The open directory puts its national historic persons nowhere, so a town shows one only on firm ground: a birth there, matched by name and life years, or a historic place there named for the person whose record says so. Events 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. Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists every National Historic Site, federal heritage building, heritage railway station and lighthouse; the Canadian Register of Historic Places adds their statements in English and French.
- The grade. There is no history grade: the page sets out the record and compares it with other towns.
- 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.
- The tiers. Tiers follow the designation: national recognition and classement first, other federal designations next, provincial and local listings last.
Questions about Charlesbourg’s history
Which places in Charlesbourg have the highest designation?
These: Site patrimonial de Charlesbourg, Église de Saint-Charles-Borromée and Maison des Bédard.
What is the oldest building in Charlesbourg?
Église de Saint-Charles-Borromée, a Classified heritage building (Québec), begun in 1827.
How old are the homes in Charlesbourg?
The 2021 Census dates 22% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
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.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).