| Donegana's Hotel | |
|---|---|
 Donegana's in The Illustrated London News | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Private House Vice-Regal Residence School Hotel |
| Location | Old Montreal |
| Address | Notre-Dame Street |
| Coordinates | 45°30′37″N 73°33′09″W / 45.5103°N 73.5525°W |
| Construction started | 1821 |
| Renovated | 1850 |
| Destroyed | 1880 |
Donegana's Hotel, previously known as Bingham House, stood on the north-west corner of Notre-Dame Street and Bonsecours Street, a block away from Bonsecours Market in the Old Montreal district of Montreal, Quebec. Originally built as a private residence in 1821, the house served as the vice-regal residence of the Governors General of Canada from 1837 until 1843. From 1843 to 1846 it briefly housed the High School of Montreal, before the school built its own premises. The building was then bought by Jean-Marie Donegana, who enlarged it to become the largest hotel in the British Colonies. It became famous across Europe and North America, where its reputation was only equal to, if not exceeding, that of New York's Astor House.[2] Donegana's was burnt down on 16 August 1849,[3] in the aftermath of the Montreal Riots of 1849.
The site was sold in 1850 and the hotel rebuilt one block to the east by American management[1] as a new Donegana Hotel, which prospered until the 1870s under hotelier Daniel Gale. Gale promoted it in New York papers as a Montreal hotel that was equal to the finest American hostelries.[4][5] Confederate agent and wine merchant P. C. Martin lived there around 1863,[6] and after the American Civil War the family of ex-President Jefferson Davis stayed at the Donegana during their time in Montreal.[7] In 1880 the second hotel was replaced by the Hôpital Notre-Dame.
- ^ a b Troy Daily Whig, July 16, 1850
- ^ Important from Canada, 1849
- ^ "Riot at Montreal". Illustrated London News. 8 September 1849. p. 164. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- ^ Advertisements, 1868, Syracuse Daily Courier
- ^ Traveler's Guide to Montreal. Montreal: Daniel Rose, 1866
- ^ Mackay's Montreal Directory 1863-64
- ^ Papers of Jefferson Davis, June 1865 - December 1870. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2008.