Château Ramezay

Château Ramezay, 1900-1925

Rear view, 2006

The Château Ramezay is a museum and historic building on Notre-Dame Street in Old Montreal, opposite Montreal City Hall.

Build in 1705 as the residence of then-governor of Montreal, Claude de Ramezay, the Château was the first building proclaimed as an historical monument in Quebec and is the province’s oldest private history museum.

Over the years, the Château changed owners and functions several times, with Ramezay's descendants selling the manor to the fur-trading Compagnie des Indes.

Continental Army HQ

From 1775, it became the Canadian headquarters for the Continental Army when it seized Montreal. Benjamin Franklin stayed there overnight in 1776, while trying to raise troops to fight for the Americans in the American Revolutionary War.

Museum

Mainly comprised of gifts from private Montrealers, the museum's collection is estimated at 30,000 objects, including manuscripts, printed works, numismatic items, ethnological items, works of art, paintings, prints and furniture.

From 1997 to 2002, the Château Ramezay underwent indoor and outdoor restorations, including the creation of the Governor’s Garden, inaugurated in 2000. In 2003, the Château Ramezay Museum earned the National Award of Excellence from the Landscape Architects of Canada.

It has greeted more than a million visitors.

External links

• History of the Museum, Official Web site
• Château Ramezay, Vieux Montreal