Domaine Cataraqui, Heritage estate in Sillery, Canada
Domaine Cataraqui is an estate in Sillery, Quebec City, whose brick villa was built by architect Edward Staveley on the foundations of James Bell Forsyth's wooden villa and completed in December 1851. A large winter garden was added to the west side in 1856, and most of the outbuildings still standing date from Henry Burstall's ownership. The grounds on the Sillery cliff include gardens reworked by Scottish gardener Peter Lowe and two large greenhouses built in 1880.
James Bell Forsyth founded the estate in 1831 on land that had formerly belonged to the Jesuits. He named it Cataraqui after the indigenous name that Kingston, Ontario once used.
The name Cataraqui comes from James Bell Forsyth's birthplace, Kingston, once the site of Fort Cataraqui. Since 1995 the estate has operated as a museum-garden, and the following year it became the official residence of the Quebec government. Works by Quebec artists Jean Paul Riopelle, Marcelle Ferron and Marcel Barbeau have been exhibited here, and the site now hosts public and private receptions.
The estate sits on Chemin Saint-Louis in Quebec City and provides parking on the grounds at no cost. Since the property hosts both private and public events, it is worth checking ahead about which areas are open to visitors on any given day.
The painter Percyval Tudor-Hart, husband of Catherine Rhodes, had a large studio built adjoining the garage; he died there in 1954 at 81, and Catherine stayed in the house until her own death in 1972. The estate became a museum-garden in 1995 through the Bagatelle Foundation of Sillery, and Quebec artists Jean Paul Riopelle, Marcelle Ferron and Marcel Barbeau exhibited there.
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