National Historic Site of Canada

Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada

Montréal, Quebec

Also known as Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Sir George Étienne Cartier

Corner view of the Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada, showing the façades facing the road, 2004.

Corner view of the Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada, showing the façades facing the road, 2004.

Photo: Parks Canada Agency/ Agence Parcs Canada, 2004.

Built
1836–1838
Recognized
1964
By
Government of Canada

The register’s text, word for word

Description

Located at the corner of Notre Dame and Berri streets, in downtown Montreal, this masonry building occupies a little more than half of its urban lot. The two semi-detached houses occupying this lot had been part of a three house urban terrace on what had been the site of the Montreal citadel . One part of the house presents the life and work of Father of Confederation George-Étienne Cartier, upper-middle class Montrealer, politician and Father of Confederation, and the other has been restored to present the domestic setting of the Cartier family during the 1860s.

Heritage value

Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada was commemorated because:

  • these two houses together served as the residence of a major Canadian political figure,

Sir George-Étienne Cartier,

  • Cartier was the Prime Minister of the Province of Canada between 1858 and 1862;
  • Cartier was one of the principal Fathers of Confederation
  • Cartier was one of the most influential members of the first Canadian cabinet.

The heritage value of Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada resides in its association with George-Étienne Cartier, whose political career lasted from 1848 to 1873, and in its illustration of an upper-middle class Montreal home in the middle of the 19th century, showing both French and English architectural influences.

SourceHistoric Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, June 2001; Commemorative Integrity Statement, 2004.

Character‑defining elements

Key features contributing to the heritage value of this site include:

  • evidence of the amalgamation of two neighbouring houses into one building under a falsemansard roof in the Second Empire style;
  • the “east” house as it survived, amputated by some three metres in 1893;
  • the covered passage serving the two neighbouring houses;
  • the cut-stone facade and the rubble-stone rear elevation;
  • the fire walls;
  • the plan of the “west” house, including basement, ground floor and first floor;
  • the vaulted side entry of the “west” house;
  • the surviving original interior decoration with its architectural woodwork and its distinction between private and public rooms;
  • the house as a rare surviving example of the fine workmanship and generous size of mid-19th-century houses around the former Dalhousie square, houses mostly destroyed by fire in 1852.

End of the register’s text

Location

456 - 462 Notre Dame Street East, Montréal, Quebec, H2Y, Canada

45.51119° N, 73.55174° W

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Nearby

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From the Canadian Register of Historic Places, as last updated on December 12, 2025. The register’s text is shown word for word.