Judge Bowen's House
5 Rue Mont-Carmel, Upper Town, Quebec City
Built in 1819, for The Hon. Edward Bowen (1780-1866) and his wife Eliza Davidson (1787-1859). Bowen was brought to Canada under the auspices of his great-uncle, Henry Caldwell, who built the extremely elegant Caldwell Manor on the River Etchemin. By 1819, Bowen was a Judge of the Court of King's Bench and acting Attorney-General of the Province of which he would serve as Chief Justice from 1849 until his death in 1866. In the Palladian style preferred by his great-uncle, he built this substantial stone house - and it needed to be substantial for the 16-children he would raise here - of two stories over a raised basement on the corner of Mount Carmel and the Rue des Grisons....
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The facade that was set back from Mount Carmel Street is marked by two end bays that project forward from the central bay - blending both the French and English traditions. The house occupied an equally substantial terrain that stretched back from Mount Carmel to Rue Sainte-Geneviève and was flanked on one side by a long wall that separated its gardens from those at the Governor's chateau, and on the other by Rue des Grisons.
In the same year that the house was completed, Bowen offered it to George Mountain, the Bishop of Quebec, as his "see" house. Despite the government's strong recommendation that Mountain buy the house, he did not, and instead it remained the Bowen family home up until at least the early 1850s. According to a contemporary account, the Bowen "ladies (Mrs Bowen and her eight daughters) entertained a great deal" and the Judge was, "a very gentlemanly man (with) a stout pleasing likeness of Sir Jere Homfray".
The Bowen family lived here certainly up until 1850, if not longer. Another house commissioned by the Judge still stands at 31 Rue Mont-Carmel and was built 1849-1850. It is neither as large nor as elegant as this house and is therefore thought to have been built as a gift for one of his sixteen children. The fate of his own home is unknown, and if anybody can help shed any light on the matter please log in and leave a comment.
In the same year that the house was completed, Bowen offered it to George Mountain, the Bishop of Quebec, as his "see" house. Despite the government's strong recommendation that Mountain buy the house, he did not, and instead it remained the Bowen family home up until at least the early 1850s. According to a contemporary account, the Bowen "ladies (Mrs Bowen and her eight daughters) entertained a great deal" and the Judge was, "a very gentlemanly man (with) a stout pleasing likeness of Sir Jere Homfray".
The Bowen family lived here certainly up until 1850, if not longer. Another house commissioned by the Judge still stands at 31 Rue Mont-Carmel and was built 1849-1850. It is neither as large nor as elegant as this house and is therefore thought to have been built as a gift for one of his sixteen children. The fate of his own home is unknown, and if anybody can help shed any light on the matter please log in and leave a comment.
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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 04/02/2022 and last updated on 06/04/2023.
Love String as Death: Lucy Peel's Canadian Journals 1830-1833; Memories: Amusing and Historical (1890), by Mrs Charlotte Macpherson
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