The Westmount Historical Association has been given permission to include links to existing online editions of three publications and to make online access only available through this website to several other publications listed below.

A View of Their Own: The Story of Westmount

Aline Gubbay’s seminal book about Westmount was published in 1998. It has served as an inspiration and source of information for many of us. In the intervening years, new research has been carried out. In particular, many details about the early French farms have been revised. Please click “The Hurtubise House” on the left hand menu of this page and the “Early French Farmhouse on Côte St. Antoine Road” on the Photos page for more information.

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Westmount: a heritage to preserve

“Westmount: a heritage to preserve” by the architectural firm Beaupré et Michaud contains a wealth of information about the city’s history and noteworthy architecture. The categories of buildings in Westmount are listed at the back. The more complete “Westmount Heritage Study” has detailed descriptions of most of the heritage buildings in Westmount and can be consulted in the reference section of the Westmount Public Library.

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Montréal’s Little Mountain/La petite montagne

This book by Aline Gubbay and Sally Hooff, two prominent members of
the WHA, captures the architectural splendour of Westmount’s
buildings, most dating from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. It
features a bilingual text and excellent photographs by Aline Gubbay.

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Polishing the Jewel

Laureen Sweeney has written a book describing the history of the Westmount Public Library’s 1990’s renovation project. It is illustrated with many historic photos taken in the library over the years. To look at it, click here:

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LIVING WITH OUR WESTMOUNT HERITAGE

This essay was written by Mark London, who was the chair of the Westmount Architectural and Planning Commission (later Westmount’s Planning and Advisory Committee) from 1987-1993 and from 1998-2001. The booklet accompanied a photo exhibition by 3 Westmounters–Clara Gutsche, David Miller and Gabor Szilasi-at the McClure Gallery of the Visual Arts Centre. Describing Westmount’s heritage and threats to it, the essay urges the preservation of our buildings.

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Mark London, “Setting Up Westmount’s System of Heritage Protection”, March 15, 2018

Mark London spoke to the Westmount Historical Association on March 15, 2018 in the lecture series “Shaping the Future: Westmount and Beyond”. Mark was instrumental, as a member and chair of PAC (the Planning and Advisory Committee) from 1983 to 2001, in setting up a system for protecting Westmount’s architectural heritage. He gave the WHA permission to put his talk on the website, in order to provide public access to the history of this important work. The slides referred to in the text are grouped together after the text. Mark London passed away on August 18, 2018.

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Raphaël Fischer text

Prof. Raphaël Fischler wrote this short article about early zoning in Westmount and Manhattan for the federal government publication PLAN Canada. Information about the lecture he gave on this topic to the WHA in January 2018 can be found in the Fall 2018 issue of The Westmount Historian.

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Ron Graham article

Ron Graham, a journalist raised in Westmount, wrote this
article about Westmount for the magazine Saturday Night in
1981. It is interesting to compare Westmount today to the city he
describes..

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“The Beginnings of the Heritage Movement in Montreal”

The demolition in 1973 of the Van Horne mansion on Sherbrooke Street led to a mobilization of citizens concerned with the future of Montreal’s built heritage. Two articles by Linda Gyulai focused on the emergence of the heritage movement in Montreal at that time. They appeared in the Gazette of September 8th and 9th, 2023, and appear here with the permission of the author and the publisher.

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