Talks by Louisa Blair and David Mendel

This fall, the Morrin Centre invites you to explore over 300 years of history with On the Cobblestones–The Morrin Centre and its Surroundings, Past and Present. Presented as part of the 40^th anniversary of Old Quebec’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this series of talks highlights the building’s remarkable past, its role in the community, and the evolution of the surrounding neighbourhood.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

With Louisa Blair

If These Walls Could Talk: Telling Stories on the Presidents

With David Mendel

The English-Speaking Community and Old Quebec’s Development

When the Morrin Centre’s walls speak… Author Louisa Blair will present If These Walls Could Talk: Telling Stories on the Presidents. An engaging talk bringing to life the stories and anecdotes of the presidents who shaped the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec.

If These Walls Could Talk
Telling Stories on the Presidents

The people whose portraits you see in the entrance hall of the Morrin Centre mostly look boring and stern—the proverbial dead white men. Two hundred years of past presidents trying to seem serious. But look more closely—in the last decade, three of the presidents have been women and not all of them white.

Who were these people anyway? Louisa Blair took a dive through the portraits and found that being presidents of the Literary and Historical Society was probably their least interesting activity. They were also novelists, millionaires, TV stars, hunters, conservationists and calèche drivers. Just the ones named William provide plenty of intrigue: Why did Joseph Papineau call William Cochrane “the vile architect of his master’s plots”? Why did William Sheppard keep a barrel of salamanders in his greenhouse? And was William Wood really the grandson of an illegitimate son of the Duke of Kent (Queen Victoria’s father)? Louisa will share some of the more delicious details she dug up in this illustrated talk.

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Explore the contribution of the English-speaking community to the development of Old Quebec. Historian and expert guide David Mendel will present The English-Speaking Community and Old Quebec’s Development. An insightful talk on the role this community played in shaping a district now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The English-Speaking Community and Old Quebec’s Development

Today the image of Quebec City is defined, for most people, by its history as the birthplace of French civilization in North America. In certain important ways, however, it is the unique combination of French and English influences that gives this historic town its special character.
The city experienced one of its greatest periods of economic expansion after 1806, when Napoleon’s blockade cut Great Britain off from its sources of wood in the Baltic region. The British then turned to their colonies, and Quebec City became one of the most important centers for the export of wood in the British Empire. By the mid-19th century almost 40% of the population was English-speaking.
Architects and builders created buildings that displayed both English and French characteristics. Most of the houses in the Old City, for example, are very similar to London town houses in their interior floor plans. However, they retain certain characteristics of the architecture of the French regime for practical reasons, such as fire walls, as well as steep roofs, so that the snow will slide off easily.
Important businesses and institutions that were founded by English-speakers include the Jeffery Hale Hospital, La Maison Simons, and Holt Renfrew. Although today English-speakers now make up only about 2% of the population, evidence of the city’s British heritage is everywhere around us.

Presenter Biographies

Louisa Blair is a translator and writer who was born in Quebec City, Canada, raised in the UK, and returned to live in Quebec 25 years ago. She has translated numerous books and museum exhibitions about history, culture, and politics in Quebec. She has also written short stories and dozens of articles about religion, health care, and Indigenous land rights in Canada. 

Her books in English include The Anglos: The Hidden Face of Quebec City (éditions Sylvain Harvey, 2005), Iron Bars and Bookshelves: A History of the Morrin Centre (Baraka Books, 2016), The Calf with Two Heads: Transatlantic Natural History in the Canadas (Baraka Books, 2023), and her translation of Robert Lepage’s 887 (House of Anansi Press, 2019). Blossoms, Beetles, and Birds, her interactive exhibition on natural history in 19th-century Quebec, was presented at the Morrin Centre in 2019. On Sundays she sings in the church choir and on Tuesdays she plays piano at the pub.

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David Mendel, who retired as President of Mendel Tours in 2019, studied at York University in Toronto and at the University of Paris, before moving to Quebec City in 1976.  After completing a master’s thesis in Art History and undertaking doctoral studies at Université Laval, he became co-founder of Mendel Tours (previously Canadian Cultural Landscapes) in 1984. He is often called upon to give talks about the history of Quebec at international conferences and has given numerous tours of the city for visiting dignitaries. 

A resident of Quebec’s historic district since 1976, he is very involved in preservation issues. He is President of the Foundation of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity ─ the first Anglican Cathedral to have been built outside the British Isles. He is the author of a best-selling series of guidebooks devoted to Quebec City and its surrounding region: Quebec: World Heritage City (2009); Quebec, Birthplace of New France (2012); The Seminary of Quebec, A Living Heritage (2013); Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (2015); Le Château Frontenac, in the Heart of Old Quebec (2018); and co-author, with François Tremblay and Judy Bross, of Charlevoix, a Tradition of Hospitality (2018).

In 2014, David Mendel was honoured as Tourism Personality of the Year at the annual awards gala of the Quebec City Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He has been awarded many distinctions including the Medal of the Historical Society of Quebec (2015) and the King Charles III Coronation Medal (2025). He serves on the Board of Directors of the Foundation of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Musée de la civilisation, and Pôle culturel du Monastère des Ursulines.

Click here to view the full programming of the On the Cobblestones project.