Westmount: a heritage -.::••• .«? »p^^\ Westmount: a heritage to preserve This publication is the result of an agreement between the City of Westmount and the Québec ministère des Affaires culturelles. It is based on the Westmount Heritage Study carried out by the architects Beaupré and Michaud in 1988. The full study can be consulted at the Westmount Library, 4574 Sherbrooke West, Westmount, as well as at the ministère des Affaires culturelles, 454 Place Jacques-Cartier, Montréal. Copies of this publication can be obtained at the Westmount City Hall, 4333 Sherbrooke West, Westmount. 5 Introduction 1. History 8 Chapter 1 The pioneers: 1680-1800 10 Chapter 2 The fur traders: 1800-1840 12 Chapter 3 The transporters: 1840-1870 16 Chapter 4 The founders: 1870-1890 20 Chapter 5 The speculators: 1890-1914 26 Chapter 6 The financiers: 1914-1945 2. Heritage today 36 Zone A The entrance to Westmount 42 Zone B Around Westmount Park 46 Zone C The cradle of Westmount 52 Zone D Along Côte St. Antoine 56 Zone E The little mountain 58 Zone F + G The slopes of the Summit 63 Conclusion The Raynes' Residence, Notman Archives. Introduction It is impossible to take even For all practical purposes, the shortest stroll through the streets of Westmount was built in the space of Westmount without noticing the 25 years, from 1890 to 1914, with the extraordinary richness of the city's appearance of public transit in the form architectural heritage: Victorian row of trains and streetcars. In the rapid houses, imposing apartment blocks, transition from country to city, some elegant hillside mansions, dignified indelible marks remain from earlier public buildings and magnificent parks. periods; we can still see how the first This book is intended to fiefs of the seigneurial era were laid out serve as an introduction to that heritage, in long strips of land on either side of which every Westmount resident Côte St. Antoine, reflected in the north- should take pride in and guard a little south alignment of the streets today, jealously. There are few municipalities and how some of the grand estates of on the island of Montreal which can lay the 19th century have become magnifi- claim to an architectural heritage of cent parks. such vast scope and diversity. The first part of the book Perched on the smallest of traces the development of the city. The Mount Royal's three hills, the "Little second part of the book consists of a Mountain", Westmount's settlement voyage of discovery, as we explore followed its geography. The area below Westmount's architectural heritage as it Sherbrooke Street is a relatively flat stands today. terrace ending in an escarpment down We hope that, with book in to St. Antoine Street. Above Sherbrooke hand, you will be tempted to stroll Street, the land rises gently to The through the various regions of our city, Boulevard and then steeply up to the appreciating the details of our architec- Summit which is 180 meters above sea tural heritage from the notes contained level. within. Westmount retained its largely rural nature until the beginning of the 20th century. A multitude of streams and the steep slope of the land prevented more intensive land develop- ment. 1. History 1680-1800 The orderly layout of the Chapter 1 streets of Westmount dates back to the late 17th century The pioneers Between 1683 and 1718, That handful of colonists left the Sulpicians, the powerful seigneurs their mark on the land, which proved to of Montreal, granted 13 lots at Côte be extremely fertile. The major arteries St. Antoine. From west to east, the of the settlement could already be seen. lands crossed by the Côte went to the The winding Côte St. Antoine, dictated Descaris*, Hurtubise, Prud'homme, by the ravine of the Glen stream, came Desrochers, Langevin, Cousineau, first. A road through the Descaris family Chevaudrier and Bouchard families. property, today's Décarie Boulevard, These early inhabitants built connected Côte St. Antoine with the their homes with stone from Mount lands of Côte St. Luc, Côte St. Pierre and Royal, cut wood for heating on the Côte St. Joseph. mountain and harvested the abundant Today's Greene Avenue, fruits that grew on its slopes. another road up the slope cutting The number of families remained through the land of the Bouchard family, stable until the end of the 18th century; linked with the Grand chemin de la the censuses of 1731 and 1781 show Haute-Folie (today's Dorchester Boule- only about ten families established vard) and ended at the city walls at the on the territory of today's city of Récollets gateway. The layout of the Westmount. streets and the divisions of the land grants can still be seen in the urban fabric of the city of Westmount. Several rural buildings still survive from this era: the Hurtubise house (561 Côte St. Antoine), the east Descaris house (39 Côte St. Antoine), and the west Descaris house (5138 Côte St. Antoine) in the city of Montreal. *The reader will note the disparity of spellings for this family name. The spelling varies from era to era and from document to document. 1. Leduc house, 1896, since demolished, Notman Archives. 2. Hurtubise house, built in 1688, Notman Archives. 3. St-Germain house, 1897, since demolished, Notman Archives. 10 1800-1840 The first seigneurial Chapter 2 concessions passed into the hands of wealthy Montreal merchants The fur traders A new century brought new houses (168 and 178 Côte St. Antoine) names. Gradually, prosperous fur were built for Moses Judah Hayes, royal traders began to carve up the lands of engineer; the former Forden stable (50 Côte St. Antoine. Simon Clarke acquired Forden Avenue) is now a private resi- 2 3/4 arpents from the Descaris family dence; Edgemont (512 Clarke Avenue) and opened up a private road, today's stands in the former orchard of the Clarke Avenue. William Hallowell built a Clarke family. Two other important country hillside home on the southern properties survived to the mid-20th edge of the territory. William McGillivray century before succumbing to the bought land from the Bouchard family wrecker's ball. The Hallowell house was and built his own road, which would demolished to make way for the east- later be called Rosemount. And Charles west Ville Marie expressway, and Bowman built his estate, Forden, north Forden was demolished in 1950 to make of Côte St. Antoine Road. The Little way for four houses. Mountain, however, still retained its rural air. A few surviving buildings bear witness to the life of these "gen- tlemen farmers". The Metcalfe Terrace 1. "Hallowell House," built in 1806, Selby Street, Doug Lin, Westmount Historical Society. 2. "Forden," the Raynes' Residence, built in 1895, Notman Archives. 3. The Goode Residence, part of Metcalfe Terrace, built in 1840, J.B. Goode, Westmount Historical Society. 12 1840-1870 The first subdivisions were Chapter 3 made on the Clarke and the McGillivray properties The transporters New names from the field of Another type of busi- transport now made their appearance in nessman, the speculator, was also the registers of Côte St. Antoine. beginning to take an interest in the Côte. The Honourable John Young, Commis- Eadie and William Footner were the sioner of the Port of Montreal, built on owners of Clarevue and Braemar, to the site of the former McGillivray estate. which access was provided by a private The Honourable George Moffat built road (today's Mount Pleasant Avenue). Weredale Todje on the southern edge of Architect and surveyor John Ostell drew the territory. Their neighbours were a plan for the subdivision of the Leduc such figures as the Honourable J.H. and St. Germain properties (the latter Holton, founder of the Grand Trunk near today's Lansdowne Avenue). A Railway, and William Murray, founder of longtime resident also expanded her Beaver Steamship Lines. property during this era. Justine Hurtu- bise and her husband Ephrem Hudon started construction of 'Riverview' (513- 515 Côte St. Antoine) around 1847. 1. "West Mount," the William Murray Residence, built c. 1849, demolished c. 1930, located in the vicinity of the King George (Murray) Park tennis courts, City of Westmount. 13 Fortification Survey (enlargement), 1868, National Archives of Canada. 14 The first lands to be subdi- The fortifications map shown Pleasant and Rosemount (16 and 18 vided belonged to the Clarkes and the here, drawn near the end of this period, Severn Avenue), the Braemar and McGillivrays. The McGillivray property is full of information on the territory of Clarevue residences, the Forden and was easily accessible by a road up the Westmount at that time. Several sur- Westmount estates, and Metcalfe hill (today's Greene Avenue) leading viving houses appear on the map: Terrace on the other side of Côte St. from Dorchester Boulevard. numbers 5, 27, 52 to 60 and 61 Rose- Antoine Road. We can also see the mount Avenue; numbers 451, 476 and quarries between the Forden and Clarke 490 Mountain Avenue; and numbers properties from which came the stone 473 and 512 Clarke Avenue. used to build public roads. From east to west, we can also see the houses called Mount 15 3. Snyder Residence, neighbouring William Murray House, King George Park, 1894, Notman Archives. 4. "Cloverley," residence of Horace A. Hutchins, K.C., 62 Rosemount Avenue, Notman Archives. 5. Mrs. R.D. Martin Residence, 4 Murray Avenue, Notman Archives. n 16 1870-1890 An English community Chapter 4 began to form in Côte St. Antoine Village The founders Montreal was expanding. Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, Successive waves of immigration, a sad all date from this era.