25 May The Art deco Price building
The Art deco Price building
The construction of the Price skyscraper in Old Quebec was launched in the controversy in 1930. Indeed, the citizens and merchants of the capital city of Quebec, seeing the height increase in size weeks after weeks were barking. Faced with such discontent and the fears of preserving the spirit of Old Quebec, Quebec city leaders voted to set limits of the height of future construction in Old Quebec. The Price building became the only skyscraper in the Old Québec perimeter and one of the very first in Canada.
The Price family
A little history of the magnates of Quebec stationery in Old Quebec…
It was in 1820 that William Price founded his company, William Price Company. A company specialized in the export of squared timber, wood cutting, sawing and possibly much later in the manufacture of pulp. In 1855 was founded the William Price and Sons and it was in 1867 that the three sons of William Price founded Price Brothers and Company.
Then the grandson William Price III became the owner 1899 and succeeded his two sons who lost control as a shareholder shortly after the crisis of the 30s. Later, it is this same company that will be merged to Abitibi Pulp and Paper Company in 1974, which became Abitibi-Price, which also became Abitibi-Consolidated in 1997, AbitibiBowater in 2007, and finally Produits Resolu in 2011.
The Price Building Project in Old Québec
It was in 1927 that the Price family decided to set up a new headquarters for their company. Unhappy with real estate offers in the financial center of Old Québec, which was then on Saint-Pierre Street, they decided to move closer to the town hall and chose Sainte-Anne Street.
Québec City at the end of the twenties, always anxious to be part of modernity, gave its approval to the plans of the architects of a Montreal firm and despite an outcry over the longevity of the charm of Old Quebec, two houses were demolished to make way for this skyscraper.
Art Deco Feature
The Price building is characterized by its distinctive walks of art deco, which was at its peak in the 1920s in Quebec. They were deliberately chosen to reduce the impact of the silhouette of the building designed by the architects of Montreal.
The Art Deco style is also reflected in the geometric motifs that punctuate the walls of the building as well as the palm leaves. The Price building is therefore totally opposed to the “Châteauesque” style of the Château Frontenac hotel.
Nowadays well integrated in the panorama of Quebec City, the Price Building is a monument and an important landmark. It has been very well integrated with its environment.
Thus, in 1984, the only skyscraper in Old Québec was ceded to Quebec City. It is now managed since the early 2000s by the real estate department of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec.
