Château Dufresne

The Château Dufresne is a historic building in Montreal. It is located at the intersection of Rue Sherbrooke Est and Boulevard Pie -IX in the district of Mercier - Hochelaga -Maisonneuve, near the Olympic Stadium and the Botanical Gardens. The 1915 built until 1918 in the Beaux- Arts style building is the former residence of the industrialist family Dufresne and is now used as a museum.

History

Oscar Dufresne (1875-1936) was a wealthy shoe manufacturer and a member of the City Council of the then independent municipality Maisonneuve. He instructed his younger brother, the architect and master builder Marius Dufresne (1883-1945), with the construction of a representative house. This was inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles. After three years of construction, the building was completed in 1918. The two brothers lived in one half. The Congregation of the Holy Cross purchased the building in 1948, nine years later, it passed into the possession of the city of Montreal. The Château Dufresne was then used intermittently as a museum. The provincial government of Quebec classified the building in 1976 as a historic monument. Restorations were carried out in the years 1976-1979 and 2002-2004.

Building

At the Château Dufresne is one of the most monumental residential buildings, built in Montreal for representatives of the francophone bourgeoisie. Divided into two halves house with its eclecticism typical of the then taste of French-Canadian elite, in contrast to the Victorian architecture that was popular with the Anglo- Canadian bourgeoisie. The main façade has a porch, which is framed by double pillars and topped by a balustrade. Inside the salons Louis XV and Louis XVI style are kept, different rooms are decorated with wall paintings by Guido Nincheri. The museum has various exhibitions on art and contemporary history, the furniture comes from the Dufresne family collection.