The review of a book dealing with the history of architecture in Québec City gives the author an opportunity to make a methodological reflexion on the ideas of observation, transposition, codes, shifting of functions, difference between space and territory, and between a city and a capital. The particular case of Québec City evolution, as seen through its architectural past, expresses a universal meaning if one is willing to extract from it processes, models or general mechanisms. The author questions the validity of geohistorical interpretations of the occupancy of New World's territories in the absence of an adequate conceptual framework.