Montreal/Westmount–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Westmount is a very affluent anglophone community of about 20,000 people (2011) on the island of Montreal, just west of Downtown. Further west is Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (commonly abbreviated NDG), a working-to-middle class district of about 68,000 people (2016) that is also mostly anglophone, and is being gentrified.

Understand
Traditionally, the community of Westmount has been a wealthy and predominantly anglophone enclave, having been at one point the richest community in Canada. It now competes with the Vancouver neighbourhoods of Shaughnessy and Kerrisdale, and the Toronto neighbourhoods of Lawrence Park, Forest Hill, Rosedale, and the Bridle Path, for the title.

Most of the city is residential. Homes increase in size and value toward the top of the mountain, with the largest and most expensive being on or near Summit Circle.

Notable buildings include Place Alexis Nihon and the Westmount Square complex, which was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and funded largely by Westmount resident Samuel Bronfman, the founder of the Seagram liquor empire.

NDG plays a pivotal role in serving as the commercial and cultural hub for Montreal's predominantly English-speaking West End, with Sherbrooke Street West running the length of the community as the main commercial artery.

NDG is almost exclusively residential and institutional in nature, defined in part by major Anglophone civic institutions anchoring its eastern and western ends. These are the MUHC hospital at the Glen Yards, adjacent to the Vendome intermodal station and the Loyola campus of Concordia University.

Westmount
Since the first French colonists settled in the area in the middle of the 17th century, this area has been known by several names including La Petite Montagne, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-Saint-Antoine. It was renamed Westmount, in 1895, reflecting the location of the city on the southwest slope of Mount Royal and the presence of a large English-speaking population.

During the 20th century, Westmount became a wealthy Montreal suburb; a small city dotted with many green spaces. It was home to some of Montreal's wealthiest families including the Bronfmans and the Molsons. This made the city a symbolic target of Front de libération du Québec terrorist bombings in the 1960s, culminating in the 1970 October Crisis.

Westmount is an independent city, but it is a part of the urban agglomeration of Montreal, and the bulk of its municipal taxes go to the Agglomeration Council, which oversees activities common to all municipalities on the Island of Montreal (e.g. police, fire protection, public transit).

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
The first Europeans settled the area eight years after the founding of the colony of Ville Marie, in 1650. In December 1876, the Municipality of the Village of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce was established through proclamation. Gradually the village developed around the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce which was the head church of the seven parishes on the western part of the Island of Montreal.

It was around 1920 that Anglophones began settling in NDG, resulting in the construction of numerous schools and churches. The Décarie Expressway opened to motorists in 1966, in time for Expo 67. The highway construction forced the displacement of 285 families and had a major impact on the neighbourhood, severing the easternmost part from the whole.

Since 2002, the area has been administratively attached to Côte-des-Neiges as the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

By metro
The Atwater station on the Green Line lies on the border between Westmount and the Shaughnessy Village section of Montreal. This is a good stop for the commercial district along rue Saint-Catherine in eastern Westmount, including the Place Alexis Nihon shopping centre. The Orange Line runs through the eastern part of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, with stops at Vendôme and Villa-Maria.

By bus
Bus 24 runs several kilometers down Sherbrooke Avenue, including in Westmount and Notre-Dame-de-Grace.

See
Upper Westmount has a huge array of expensive estates and interesting modern architecture that's worth seeing if you are in the area.

Do

 * Swimming at the Westmount Sports Centre.
 * Walking in Westmount Park
 * Botanical greenhouse next to library
 * Attend services/pray at one of the many beautiful religious institutions in Westmount, such as the Mountainside United Church (Protestant), Church of the Ascension of Our Lord (Catholic), or Congregation Shaar HaShomayim ( Jewish-Orthodox).
 * Attend services/pray at one of the many beautiful religious institutions in Westmount, such as the Mountainside United Church (Protestant), Church of the Ascension of Our Lord (Catholic), or Congregation Shaar HaShomayim ( Jewish-Orthodox).

Buy


Westmount, given its upscale nature, has a large selection of boutiques to browse.

There are several small commercial districts on Sherbrooke Street from the city's western boundary to the intersection of Sherbrooke Street and Victoria Avenue ("Victoria Village"), on Saint Catherine Street across from Place Alexis Nihon, on Greene Avenue and on De Maisonneuve Boulevard near the Atwater metro station.



Drink
Westmount is conspicuously lacking in bars, due to the older crowd. The streets are quiet at night.