When Montréal became the capital, the Saint-Sulpice Seminary—already 150 years old—set about modernizing. In 1840, Bishop Lartigue entrusted the Sulpicians with training the diocese’s priests; they founded the Grand Seminary and launched major work to adapt the old Seminary on Notre-Dame Street. By 1848, under the direction of architect John Ostell, spacious new wings were planned to replace the old ones, but the project was never carried out in full.

By the time Montréal became the capital, the Saint-Sulpice Seminary was already more than 150 years old. Some modernization was in order—and all the more so as the Sulpicians’ activities were diversifying. Beginning in 1840, Montréal’s bishop, Mgr Lartigue, tasked the Sulpicians with overseeing the full training of priests for the Diocese of Montréal. They immediately founded the Grand Seminary of Montréal and undertook major work to accommodate these new activities. This new vocation required the demolition of the older wings and the construction of larger, more spacious ones. Work began in 1848, under the direction of architect John Ostell.

This photo shows the east wing (on the left), the only one completed by Ostell.

Today, the Saint-Sulpice Seminary is one of the city’s oldest buildings—and the only surviving 17th-century landmark in Old Montréal.