VIMY PARK • Westmount, Quebec
Architecture & Design
Architect: Percy Erskine Nobbs, Montreal 1948
Sculptor: George Hill
History:
Vimy Park, a triangular green park, east of the Westmount City Hall, was originally part of the once vast Decarie farm, granted to the family by the Sulpicians. In the 1850s, the Grey Nuns were planning to build in Westmount and acquired this segment, without result. The land continued to be cultivated by various owners.
The irregular point shape was created in 1893 when Sherbrooke Street was extended west to intersect Cote Saint-Antoine Road. This lot was purchased by the City in 1911 from a Judge Ouimet and was given the name Garden Point.
The cornerstone for a war memorial, to commemorate soldiers from Westmount who had died during World War I, was laid in 1920. In 1922, Westmount City Hall was built facing it to the west, and the cenotaph was unveiled. Designed by the prominent sculptor George Hill, it features the bronze figures of a soldier and a guardian angel, with marble reliefs of women in wartime below. In 1948, local architect Percy Erskine Nobbs designed an elevated platform, added granite tablets with the names of Westmount’s fallen military personnel from the Second World War, and planned the landscaping of Garden Point.
In April 2017, Garden Point was renamed Vimy Park, in honour of Canada’s WWI victory at Vimy Ridge. The grassy expanse of Vimy Park was further landscaped to provide a place for quiet contemplation.
Reference:
Westmount City Hall – City Hall Park & Garden Point
4333 Sherbrooke St. West, Westmount, Qc. H3Z 1WE
Tel: (514)989-5200
Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30
City of Westmount / Parks & Green Spaces
Facebook:
https://m.facebook.com/villedewestmount
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Westmount Magazine
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