THE WESTMOUNT HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HOSTS A NUMBER OF EVENTS EACH YEAR. THESE INCLUDE TWO LECTURE SERIES, SEVERAL WALKING TOURS, AND EXHIBITIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER MATERIAL FROM OUR ARCHIVES.
PLEASE CONSULT OUR WEBSITE REGULARLY FOR UPCOMING ACTIVITIES OFFERED BY THE WHA.
The four talks in the WHA’s 2024 Winter/Spring Lecture Series focus on the repurposing and transformation of the chapels of religious congregations into libraries in three educational institutions in and adjacent to Westmount.
Thursday, February 15, 2024 from 7:pm to 9:00 pm in the Westmount Room of the Westmount Public Library
Speakers: Robert Magne, Architecte associé, Lapointe-Magne et associés, architectes et urbanistes.
Built between 1874-1878, according to the plans of architect Victor Bourgeau, the beautiful former Grey Nuns chapel has been transformed into a Reading Room for Concordia University, as one of the library’s silent study spaces, so with the strict no-talking rule in place, it’s an ideal spot to study for an exam, to review notes for an upcoming class or to write a thesis.
Thursday, March 21, 2024 from 7:pm to 9:00 pm in the Westmount Room of the Westmount Public Library
Speaker: Peter Lanken
Architect Peter Lanken has a long history with the Grey Nuns. In the 1970s, with Save Montreal, he fought successfully to save the Mother House from demolition. In 2013, as the sisters were moving out, he spent five weeks in the chapel, taking measurements and photographs. In this lecture he will discuss some aspects of that chapel.
Thursday, April 18, 2024 from 7:pm to 9:00 pm in the Westmount Room of the Westmount Public Library
Speakers: Manon Asselin, principal Architect of Atelier TAG & Amy MacLean, Coordinator, Library Services, Marianopolis College
Marianopolis College Library, within the historic Mother House of Congrégation de Notre-Dame, upholds a 17th-century educational mission. The architectural transformation undertaken by Atelier TAG in 2013 promotes students as active learners, reshaping the library’s role from information repository to a place where students take charge of their learning.
Thursday, May 16, 2024 from 7:pm to 9:00 pm in the Westmount Room of the Westmount Public Library
Speakers: David Wigglesworth, retired architect, former Partner of Dimakopoulos et Associés
The story of a former nunnery, built at the beginning of the 20th century and straddling two municipalities, that was transformed eighty years later into a college campus for four thousand students, while preserving its historic classified building exterior and grounds with its chapel interior to become the college library.
Due to the pandemic, the April lecture was co-sponsored by the Westmount Public Library and given remotely in 2021, and David Lanken exhibited his work at the Gallery in Victoria Hall in the spring of 2022.
