Quebec City
— — the only walled city north of Mexico.
Not only on a wall.
“Old Quebec sits on a bluff where the St. Lawrence narrows, the river that gave the city its name in 1608. The upper town is still ringed by 4.6 kilometres of stone walls — the only fortified city left in North America north of Mexico. The Château Frontenac holds the skyline; copper roofs, dormers, the river below. In winter the lower town reads in greys and lamplight, and the snow stays on the slate. From the studio, a quiet north-of-the-border favourite. — from the studio
Quebec City, 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.
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.
The place, in three passes.
Quebec City sits on a promontory above a narrowing of the St. Lawrence River — the Algonquin word *kébec* means 'where the river narrows.' Samuel de Champlain founded the settlement in 1608, making it the oldest continuously inhabited French-founded city in North America. The historic district, Vieux-Québec, was inscribed by UNESCO in 1985 and remains the only city north of Mexico with its 17th- and 18th-century fortifications intact. The walls run roughly 4.6 kilometres around the upper town. The Citadelle on Cap Diamant still houses an active garrison of the Royal 22nd Regiment.
The upper town is built of grey limestone quarried locally, with copper roofs that have weathered to verdigris. The Château Frontenac, designed by Bruce Price for Canadian Pacific and opened in 1893, anchors the skyline at 79 metres along Dufferin Terrace. Below it the Quartier Petit-Champlain — one of the oldest commercial streets in North America, rebuilt after the 1682 fire — runs in narrow stone lanes to the river. The Place Royale square holds Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, completed in 1723. The fortifications themselves were finished by the British between 1820 and 1850, replacing earlier French earthworks.
Quebec City carries four distinct seasons sharply. Winter averages around -12°C in January and the city stages the Carnaval de Québec each February — running since 1955, it is one of the largest winter festivals in the world. Spring is brief; the river ice usually breaks up in April. Autumn turns the maples on the Plains of Abraham red through early October. Summer brings the Festival d'été de Québec, drawing more than a million visitors over eleven days in July. The latitude (46.8° N) puts long northern light over the river from June through August.