Montebello, a municipality packed with history
Once part of the seigneurie de La Petite-Nation,the municipality of Montebellois a national historic location for Canada.This domain, where we find today the Fairmont Château Montebello, is formely known as la seigneurie de Louis-Joseph Papineau since its construction is 1850. Its in 1929 that this domain of more than 256 km² was sold at auction. The Fairmont Château Montebello is in fact the largest round log structure in the world.
Harold Lawson, canadian achitect and responsible for the construction of the new domain, succeeds in completing the main three buildings in less than four months: the «Log Château», residence to the members of the «Seigniory Club»; the huge garage; and the «Cedar Hall», residence for the employees. At Montebello, work starts on march 15th 1930 and everything is completed at the open on july 4th on the same year. It’s really impressive when taken into account that everything was done in 111 days!
The «Seigniory Club» was founded on 1930. It was directed by five honorable and prestigious members: Sir Charles Gordon, president of the Bank of Montréal and of the Royal Trust; Sir Herbert S. Colt, president of the Royal Bank and governor of the McGill University; the senator François L. Béique, president of the Canadian National Bank Sir Edward Beatty, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway and chancellor of the McGill University; the Honorable Louis-Alexandre Taschereau prime minister of Québec. If, still to this day, Montebello enjoys an international reputation, it is partly due to the Fairmont Le Château Montebello and its many good contributors throughout the years .
