Villa-Maria is a Montreal Metro station in the borough of

Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (, ) is a borough (''arrondissement'') of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The borough was created following the 2002 municipal reorganization of Montreal. It comprises two main neighbourhoods, Côte-des-Neiges ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. It is operated by the

Société de transport de Montréal The Société de transport de Montréal (STM; en, Montreal Transit Corporation) is a public transport agency that operates transit bus and rapid transit services in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Established in 1861 as the "Montreal City Passenger Ra ...

(STM) and serves the Orange Line. It is located in the Westmount Adjacent area of the

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ( en, Our Lady of Grace), also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, ...

neighbourhood, beside the Décarie Expressway trench.

Overview

The station is a normal

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platform ...

station, and has an entrance at its south end. The entrance is located in a bus loop located on the

Décarie Autoroute Autoroute 15 (also called the Décarie Expressway (English) or Autoroute Décarie (French) between the Turcot and Décarie Interchanges in Montreal and the Laurentian Autoroute (English) or Autoroute des Laurentides (French) north of Autorout ...

Station improvements

In 2019, work began to make the station fully accessible at a cost of $24.6m. The work included the installation of three elevators, station renovation works and the installation of new artwork. The project was completed in November 2022, making Villa-Maria the 23rd accessible station in the Metro.

Architecture and artwork

The station was designed by André Léonard. The architect also designed

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s for the station - comprising large moulded dials in a variety of colours. Floor and wall tiling also make use of these colours throughout the station. As part of work to make the station accessible, La correspondance des strates by artist Marianne Chevalier was unveiled in September 2022. Using colorful geometric & organic shapes cut of aluminium, the work contrasts with the 1980s sculptures designed by station architect André Léonard.

Origin of name

Villa-Maria station takes its name from the nearby Villa Maria school, which in turn takes its name from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

House of Mary. The surrounding lands were once owned by the Decarie family. The land was sold in 1795 to Sir James Monk and the Monk residence built in 1804 in the central section of the present-day school. In 1844, the building was leased to the Crown as a residence for the Governors-Generals of Canada. ( Lord Metcalfe,

Earl Cathcart Earl Cathcart is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The title was created in 1814 for the soldier and diplomat William Cathcart, 1st Viscount Cathcart. The Cathcart family descends from Sir Alan Cathcart, who sometime bet ...

, and

Lord Elgin Earl of Elgin is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1633 for Thomas Bruce, 3rd Lord Kinloss. He was later created Baron Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, in the Peerage of England on 30 July 1641. The Earl of Elgin is the ...

all resided on the Monklands. The property became a country hotel for five years and was thenpurchased by the nuns of Congregation of Notre Dame in 1854. They turned it into a private girls' school, which they named Villa Maria. The metro station was built at the foot of the Villa Maria property.

Connecting bus routes

Nearby points of interest

Marianopolis College , mottoeng = "Under the Guidance of Mary" , established = 1908 , type = Private college , endowment = , director = Mr. Christian Corno , provost = E ...

* Villa Maria Girls School * Marymount Academy *The Monkland Village *MAB-Mackay Rehabilitation Centre *Centennial Academy

References

External links

Villa-Maria Station, official web page

Villa-Maria metro station geo location

Montreal by Metro, metrodemontreal.com

2011 STM System Map

{{MTL Metro Orange Accessible Montreal Metro stations Orange Line (Montreal Metro) Railway stations in Canada opened in 1981 Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce