February 2, 2012

Ottawa recognizes Westmount, Quebec for architecture, landscape

Environment Minister Peter Kent announced last week that the City of Westmount, Quebec on the island of Montreal is recognized by the federal government as a historically significant place due to the role of architecture in neighbourhood development before 1930.

Westmount is completely surrounded by the city of Montreal but is not one of its boroughs, or arrondissements.

“Its opulent architectural and landscape heritage is characteristic of the architectural styles and trends in landscape architecture of the period between 1890 and 1930,” Parks Canada stated in a backgrounder. “It also reflects the concerted efforts of members of the municipality who, from the early 20th century onwards, were keen to protect and preserve the features of their built environment.”

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Kent is the federal minster responsible for Parks Canada. The department supports the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, which advises the Minister of the Environment on which places, persons and events should be designated as having national historic significance.

The Jan. 17 announcement named four communities as historically significant: Bragg Creek, Alberta for its youth hostel; Ile Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island), due to the deportation of Acadians in 1758; Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston, Ontario; and Westmount, Quebec.

In Westmount, before 1914, a bylaw “facilitated the creation of a network of green spaces for the use of residents, while municipal buildings, schools and places of worship were added,” the Parks Canada backgrounder states.

“After 1914, most buildings within the area reflected a greater æsthetic homogeneity since contracts stipulated the mandatory use of specific materials and setbacks,” Parks Canada stated. “Zoning laws limited the implementation of non-residential construction projects, which allowed Westmount to preserve most of its suburban character.”

The Cataraqui cemetery in Kingston was recognized as an example of a rural or garden cemetery.

“Its design is associated with the movement for garden-cemeteries because of its uneven topography and naturalistic landscape with many varied perspectives laid out in the picturesque manner, its curvilinear roads and islets of irregular curved shapes and differing sizes, its ponds, and its range of plantings,” Parks Canada stated.

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