The Westmount station (french: Gare de Westmount) is a disused railway station in the city of Westmount, Quebec, Canada. Its address is 4848 Saint Catherine Street West at the bottom of Victoria Avenue in the

Victoria Village ''For the settlement established by former slaves in Guyana known as Victoria Village see Victoria, Guyana'' Victoria Village, sometimes referred to as Sloane (after the main street within the area), is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, ...

neighbourhood. It was designed for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

by the company architect, W.S. Painter, and was completed in 1907.

History

The station was expanded twice, in 1923 and 1927. The station is a testament to the rapid development of Westmount as a suburb of Montreal between 1890 and 1914. "The building’s architecture is typical of railway stations, composed of a long rectangular one-storey pavilion under a gabled roof and hipped caps, with a projecting bay that was once the ticket office, and corbels retaining the eaves." The station closed with the end of VIA passenger service, circa 1984. Train service was moved to the

Vendôme station Vendôme station is an intermodal transit station in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, near the town of Westmount in the Westmount Adjacent area of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce that adjoins the Décari ...

, incorporating bus, train and metro service. The Westmount station was offered to the City of Westmount for a dollar in 1985, on condition that it be moved from the site. After much local protest, in 1989 it was allowed to stay on-site. The City approved the purchased of the building and the land under it in 1998. In 1999, the City passed a by-law authorizing permitted use of the facility: a heritage interpretive centre, an exhibition centre or a public park and square The station was used for a "ski train" departing "Friday night or Saturday morning during the winter season, heading for the Laurentians. The cars were a forest of skis standing in the racks between the seats. It was always a noisy, colourful crowd of enthusiastic skiers." As of 2008, the station is owned by the city of Westmount. The station closed to passenger service in 1984. It was recognized as a Heritage Railway Station according to the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act in 1994. The station does not have municipal heritage protection and sits vacant. Councilor Philip A. Cutler proposed to convert it into a tech hub during a 2016 council meeting in Westmount. He used the transformation of

Notman House Notman House (french: Maison Notman) is a historic building at 51 Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal, Quebec, near the Golden Square Mile. Completed in 1845 for Sir William Collis Meredith, the house takes its name from the celebrated photographer ...

as a precedent and visited as part of a fact-finding mission.

References

{{Amtrak Quebec stations Buildings and structures in Westmount, Quebec Designated heritage railway stations in Quebec Disused railway stations in Canada Railway stations in Canada opened in 1907 Railway stations closed in 1984 Canadian Pacific Railway stations in Quebec Railway stations in Montreal Former New York Central Railroad stations Former Amtrak stations in Canada Former Delaware and Hudson Railway stations

History

See also

References