Wender·Vista
Old Quebec
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileCanada
on the cliffs above the St. Lawrence

Old Quebec

— — slate roofs and bells above the river.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The old town sits on a bluff above the St. Lawrence, walls and all — the only fortified city north of Mexico still ringed by its ramparts. Place Royale at the foot of the cliff, the Petit-Champlain stairs climbing back up, Château Frontenac watching from the rim. In February the snow on the copper roofs goes blue at dusk and nobody hurries.

from the studio
Old Quebec
— bring it home

Old Quebec, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Old Quebec

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Old Quebec sits on Cap Diamant, a limestone promontory above the narrowing of the St. Lawrence River that gave the city its Algonquin name. Samuel de Champlain founded the settlement here in 1608, and the lower and upper towns developed on either side of the cliff that still divides them. UNESCO inscribed the historic district in 1985, citing the 4.6 kilometres of ramparts that ring the upper town. The Château Frontenac, completed in 1893 by Bruce Price for Canadian Pacific Railway, anchors the skyline above Dufferin Terrace.

— the stone

The fortifications are the reason the historic district exists in the form it does. After the British took the city in 1759, they spent decades reinforcing the French walls, finishing the citadel on Cap Diamant in 1832 to a star-fort design adapted from Vauban. Four gates still open through the rampart: Porte Saint-Louis, Porte Saint-Jean, Porte Kent, and Porte Prescott. Parks Canada manages the walls and the citadel as a National Historic Site, and walkers can follow the full circuit on top of the ramparts.

— informed by Parks Canada, Wikipedia
— the season

Winter is when the old town looks most like itself. The Carnaval de Québec, held since 1955, runs through the first two weeks of February and turns the Plains of Abraham into an ice palace. Snow gathers on the copper roofs and along the Petit-Champlain stairs; the Château Frontenac lights its facade at dusk. Average February temperatures sit around minus eleven Celsius, and the river ice can pack into ridges below Cap Diamant. Cross-country skiers reach the citadel walls from the Plains in a few minutes.

— where
Canada · Quebec City, Québec
— elevation
98 m · 322 ft
— position
46.8131° N · 71.2075° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
10 km NE
Île d'Orléans
river island
13 km NE
Montmorency Falls
waterfall
2 km S
Lévis
river town
N
Old Quebec
Île d'Orléans
Montmorency Falls
Lévis
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Old Quebec — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Old Quebec is the only city north of Mexico that retains its fortified walls. The French began the ramparts in the seventeenth century, and the British finished the four-kilometre circuit and the Cap Diamant citadel after 1759.

Samuel de Champlain established the settlement on July 3, 1608, at the foot of Cap Diamant. The name comes from the Algonquin word kébec, meaning the narrows where the St. Lawrence pinches between cliff and south shore.

A grand railway hotel completed in 1893 for Canadian Pacific Railway, designed by Bruce Price on the site of an earlier governor's residence. It anchors the upper town and is one of the most photographed hotels in the world.

UNESCO inscribed the Historic District of Old Québec as a World Heritage Site in 1985 for its intact fortifications, its layered French and British colonial architecture, and its continuous occupation since 1608.

The funiculaire du Vieux-Québec runs beside the Petit-Champlain stairs and has linked the two levels since 1879. The stairs themselves are free to walk, and the descent from Dufferin Terrace to Place Royale takes a few minutes.

The winter carnival runs through the first two weeks of February each year, on the Plains of Abraham and through the streets of the old town. It has been held since 1955 and is the world's largest winter carnival.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Old Quebec is a place locals carry close, whether they grew up inside the walls or visited family there. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio travels well to a Québécois recipient.

The blues and slate greys of the artwork sit well in alpine modern, classic French country, and jewel-tone maximalist rooms. The piece reads warm against dark wood and against pale stone or plaster walls.

Yes. French-country and alpine-traditional rooms have returned to favour, and a piece anchored on real cobblestone architecture reads as collected rather than themed. The Large carries that weight on its own.

A single Large suits most sofas and consoles. A four-tile Mural reads more architectural and fills a wider wall; a nine-tile Mural is the right scale above a long sectional or a dining sideboard.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both resist scratches and humidity and work for backsplashes, shower surrounds, and powder-room walls. The Glossy finish is for dry, framed wall installations.

A soft microfibre cloth and water. No abrasive cleaners, no solvents. The colour is infused into the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so it does not lift or scratch with ordinary cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is curated and finished in the Knoxville studio under Reid Wender's eye. There is no licensing and no reseller chain. The studio is a single family operation.

— if this one stayed with you

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