Did You Know? Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello

In February of 1930, the site where Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello hotel now stands was a clearing in the woods. Just four months later, the massive cedar chaeau was complete: a building feat which captured the popular imagination of the time, inspiring newspaper features across North America and attracting crowds of onlookers.

This Outaouais resort project was the dream of a Swiss-American named Hubert Saddlemire, who was inspired by the châteaux of the Swiss Alps, and dubbed the project "Lucerne-in-Québec." A Finnish master-builder named Victor Nymark supervised the construction and woodworking teams, who worked in overlapping shifts around the clock, using electric lighting at night. 

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