The Fairmont Château Frontenac, a magnificent transitional building and possibly the most superbly situated hotel in the world opened its doors to the world on December 18th, 1893. Commonly referred to as the Château Frontenac (referring to a time before Fairmont Group of hotels purchased the building), it is a designated National Historic Site located in Quebec City, and is one of the countries Grand Railway Hotels originally built by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Modelled on seventeenth-century French architecture, the Châteauesque styled building was designed by Bruce Price and was completed with the most advanced features of the period. An entirely modern structure at its time, the steel and stone building came with electrical switches, electric lighting throughout, and three manually operated Otis Fensom elevators.