Westmount Conservatory and Greenhouses

The Westmount Conservatory was built in 1927 by Lord & Burnham, the ornamental greenhouse firm that also supplied the great conservatories of the New York Botanical Garden and the United States Botanic Garden in Washington. It stands on the western edge of Westmount Park, against two public buildings: the municipal library and Victoria Hall, a community hall rebuilt in 1925 to designs by Alexander Cowper Hutchison and George W. Wood after a fire in 1924 destroyed the first building, opened in 1899. It is also known simply as the Conservatory or the Palm House.

In 1999 an art gallery designed by Fournier, Gersovitz & Moss was linked to Victoria Hall, its French doors opening onto a forecourt in front of the conservatory.

In September 2015 falling glass panels forced the building to close. The decay of the cypress wood that held the glazing in place was partly to blame. City council, which judged piecemeal repairs neither satisfactory nor viable, opted for a complete restoration. It was entrusted to the architects Affleck de la Riva and Nadeau Nadeau Blondin, with the contractor St-Denis Thompson, under a contract of just under 6.3 million dollars announced in 2021. After seven years of closure the conservatory reopened in August 2022, when Mayor Christina Smith described it as part of the city's built heritage.

The conservatory is a vaulted glasshouse whose panes were held from the outset by a framework of cypress wood, a timber that is no longer easy to obtain. Covering about 250 m², it is attached to both the public library and the municipal art gallery.

The work carried out between 2018 and 2022 covered the masonry and the whole glazed envelope: every glass panel and every timber structural member was replaced, with tempered glass running from the floor to the top of the vault. Heat pumps and specialised misting systems now control the indoor climate.

Inside, a so-called floating timber ramp traces a route that opens up several viewpoints over the planting while providing universal access to the library. The fountain pool known as the Frog's Pond was restored and new benches were installed.

Since 1927 the conservatory has staged floral displays every year. Today it combines permanent planting with seasonal displays that change through the year, and the plants grown here are used to create the floral clock, one of Westmount's best-known emblems.

For the 2022 reopening several dozen tropical plants and flowers were brought in, and they are watered by hand. The building also hosts plant interpretation activities, small gatherings, speeches and musical moments, set around the pool and along the ramp, which brings visitors close to the beds.

The conservatory is on Sherbrooke Street West, at the edge of Westmount Park, between the public library and Victoria Hall. Admission is free and the interior ramp makes it fully accessible; a code of conduct protects the heritage building and its plants.

Twenty to thirty minutes are enough to see it all, but at its reopening the space was presented as a place to read and unwind. The seasonal displays make it worth returning at different times of year. A visit combines easily with the library, the gallery at Victoria Hall and a walk through Westmount Park.