List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Montreal
This is a list of National Historic Sites in Montreal, Quebec and surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal. As of 2018, there are 61 National Historic Sites in this region, of which four are administered by Parks Canada (identified below by the beaver icon. The site of the village of Hochelaga was designated in 1920, and was the first site designated in Montreal.
Numerous National Historic Events also occurred in Montreal, and are identified at places associated with them, using the same style of federal plaque which marks National Historic Sites. Several National Historic Persons are commemorated throughout the city in the same way. The markers do not indicate which designation—a Site, Event, or Person—a subject has been given.
National Historic Sites located elsewhere in Quebec are at List of National Historic Sites in Quebec, except for Quebec City, which are listed under National Historic Sites in Quebec City.
This list uses names designated by the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board, which may differ from other names for these sites.
National Historic Sites
Site | Date | Designated | Location | Description | Image |
Atwater Library of the Mechanics' Institute of Montreal | 1920 | 2005 | Montreal | The home of the first Mechanics' Institute in Canada, and the oldest subscription library in Canada; the last Mechanics' Institute building in Canada serving its original purposes | |
Bank of Montreal | 1894 | 1990 | Montreal | A -storey sandstone former bank branch; the building is a rare surviving example of a commercial building in Canada in the Queen Anne Revival style | |
Battle of Rivière des Prairies / Battle of Coulée Grou | 1690 | 1924 | Montreal | The site of a battle between a group of Iroquois and a group of French settlers in 1690 | |
Battle of the Lake of Two Mountains | 1689 | 1925 | Senneville | A skirmish at Lake of Two Mountains between 28 coureurs de bois and a group of 22 Iroquois; the Iroquois defeat restored confidence among the French settlers in the area that had been shaken by the Lachine massacre | |
Black Watch of Canada Armoury | 1906 | 2008 | Montreal | Home to The Black Watch of Canada, one of Canada's oldest regiments and its oldest surviving Highland Regiment; a testament to the important roles played by armouries in Canada's military history | |
Bonsecours Market | 1847 | 1984 | Montreal | A monumental, domed masonry civic building that occupies a full city block, originally built to house the city's first city hall, a public market, exhibition rooms and a concert hall; it was the largest town hall built in Canada during the mid-19th-century and reflected Montreal's rise as a metropolis | |
Château De Ramezay / India House | 1705, 1756 | 1949 | Montreal | A stone mansion built for Claude de Ramezay, Governor of Montreal; it played an important role in the political and commercial life of New France and of Lower Canada for two centuries, housing the Compagnie des Indes occidentales starting in the 1740s and serving as official residence of the Governors-in-Chief of British North America commencing in the 1770s | |
Christ Church Cathedral | 1860 | 1999 | Montreal | An excellent example of a Gothic Revival-style cathedral; associated with the historic growth and development of Montreal through its congregation, whose members included many of the city's leading industrialists and businessmen | |
Church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Défense | 1919 | 2002 | Montreal | A Romanesque Revival style church in Montreal's Little Italy, specifically designed for an Italian Canadian parish; closely associated with Canada's oldest Italian community, established in Montreal in the 1860s | |
Church of Saint-Léon-de-Westmount | 1903 | 1997 | Westmount | One of the best examples of mural decoration dating from a period when the use of murals was prevalent in Canada; one of the few known examples in the country of a work executed in the buon fresco technique, and the best example of a comprehensive interior decor done by Guido Nincheri | |
Ernest Cormier House | 1930-31 | 2018 | Montreal | Eclectic house designed by Ernest Cormier for himself; later the residence of retired Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau | |
Erskine and American United Church | 1894 | 1998 | Montreal | An excellent example of a large Romanesque Revival church known for its unusual fenestration patterns and attractive stonework; the windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany represent the most extensive collection of Tiffany's religious stained glass windows in Canada | |
Former Montreal Custom House | 1838 | 1997 | Montreal | An excellent example of Palladian architecture in Canada, designed by John Ostell, and one of the last Canadian public buildings to use the Palladian style; its construction marked the end of Montreal's lesser importance in comparison with Quebec City | |
George Stephen House / Mount Stephen Club | 1881 | 1971 | Montreal | A large, stone Victorian mansion that is the best example of a Renaissance Revival house in Canada; the home of George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen, president of the Bank of Montreal and of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 19th century | |
Grey Nuns' Hospital | 1765 | 1973 | Montreal | A three-and-a-half building that is an example of early French Canadian architecture and is the one surviving building of the Grey Nuns' Hospital complex; the Sisters of Charity, founded by Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, tended the sick and dispossessed here until 1871, and it is from this building that they extended their ministry across Canada | |
H. Vincent Meredith Residence | 1897 | 1990 | Montreal | Representative of the mansions built by Montreal's elite in the late 19th century in the Golden Square Mile and a noted example of a house in the Queen Anne Revival-style; built for businessman and philanthropist Vincent Meredith and his wife, Lady Meredith, now serving as the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law. | |
Hersey Pavilion | 1905 | 1997 | Montreal | One of the first purpose-built nurses' residences in Canada, located on the Royal Victoria Hospital campus; symbolic of the history of training and the professionalism of nurses in Canada | |
Hochelaga | 1300s , 1535 | 1920 | Montreal | A grass-covered area about in area with a stone marker, located to the left of the main entrance of McGill University; representative of the Iroquois village of Hochelaga that was visited by Jacques Cartier, the first European to reach the future site of Montreal, in 1535 | |
Lachine Canal | 1825 | 1929 | Montreal | An early 19th-century canal, in length, built to circumvent white water on the St. Lawrence River; the head of a canal network linking the Great Lakes and the interior of the continent to the Atlantic Ocean | |
Lachine Canal Manufacturing Complex | 1825 | 1996 | Montreal | An important manufacturing and industrial complex, with the number of firms and diversity of its output at its zenith unparalleled elsewhere in Canada; at one time, over 20% of the workforce of the Island of Montreal was employed in the area | |
Last Post Fund National Field of Honour | 1930 | 2007 | Pointe-Claire | A military cemetery for veterans who died in a hospital or a public establishment after their military service; symbolic of principles such as the equality of soldiers in death and perpetual remembrance | |
LeBer-LeMoyne House | 1671 | 2002 | Montreal | A 17th-century fieldstone former fur trading post; the oldest known extant buildings associated with Charles LeMoyne and the fur trade during the French Regime | |
Louis-Joseph Papineau | 1785 | 1968 | Montreal | A -storey stone house that was the Papineau family home in Montreal; associated with the most important period in Papineau's life when he was the leader of the Parti canadien and one of the leading figures in the Lower Canada Rebellion | |
Maison Cartier | 1813 | 1982 | Montreal | Two -storey stone attached houses that are typical of pre-industrial construction in Canada; originally constructed for Louis Parthenais and Augustin Perrault | |
Maison Saint-Gabriel | 1668 | 2007 | Montreal | A fieldstone house that was home to the sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, who operated a farm for more than 300 years, making it one of the oldest surviving farm properties in Canada; an exceptional example of rural architecture of the French Regime | |
Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral | 1894 | 1999 | Montreal | A Baroque Revival cathedral that, when built, represented a break from the dominance of the Gothic Revival style in church architecture in Montreal; inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, it is the most significant symbol of ultramontanism in Canada | |
Marlborough Apartments | 1900 | 1990 | Montreal | A four-storey, red brick apartment building that is an excellent example of the start of the 20th century apartment design in Canada; Queen Anne design was a popular style for luxury domestic architecture across Canada in this period, and this is one of the few Queen Anne apartment buildings that has survived in the country | |
Masonic Memorial Temple | 1930 | 2001 | Montreal | A monumental masonic temple resembling a Greek temple, built to honour the Freemasons who served in the First World War; an exceptional example of late Beaux-Arts architecture in Canada | |
Merchants Textile Mill | 1882 | 1989 | Montreal | The second largest textile mill in Canada for the first four decades of the 20th century | |
Model City of Mount Royal | 1914 | 2008 | Mount Royal | A historic residential suburb developed in accordance with a 1914 district plan by Frederick Todd; a noted synthesis of the City Beautiful, Garden City and Garden Suburb movements, and remarkably homogeneous despite being constructed over the course of six decades | |
Monklands / Villa Maria Convent | 1804 | 1951 | Montreal | A two-storey stone Neo-Palladian mansion that served as the official residence of Governors General of Canada from 1844 to 1849 | |
Montreal Botanical Garden | 1931 | 2008 | Montreal | A botanical garden; its collections and facilities rank it as one of the most important botanical gardens in the world | |
Montreal City Hall | 1878, 1922 | 1984 | Montreal | A five-storey stone building and one of the best examples of the Second Empire style in the country; the first city hall to have been constructed in Canada solely for municipal administration, representing the growing importance of urban areas and municipal services in the late 19th century | |
Montreal Forum | 1924 | 1997 | Montreal | One of Canada's most famous sporting venues; an icon of Canadian culture due to its association with one of the most successful sporting franchises in North America, the Montreal Canadiens | |
Montreal's Birthplace | 1642 | 1924 | Montreal | The location where Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve laid the foundation of Montreal, as Fort Ville-Marie, on May 18, 1642 | |
Monument National | 1893 | 1985 | Montreal | A four-storey theatre and cultural centre constructed by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society and then known as the "Heart of French America"; now occupied by the National Theatre School of Canada | |
Mother House of the Grey Nuns of Montreal | 1871 | 2011 | Montreal | The former motherhouse of the Grey Nuns, now part of Concordia University; notable due to the manner in which the site incorporates the architectural trends of its time, and for the social relevance of the work performed by the religious order | |
Mount Royal Cemetery | 1852 | 1999 | Montreal | A cemetery located on the northern slope of Mount Royal and designed in accordance with the Picturesque principles of the early 19th-century rural cemetery movement; many of the funerary monuments are of exceptional historical, architectural or artistic value, and are reflective of the history of Montreal, Quebec and Canada | |
Notre-Dame Roman Catholic Church / Basilica | 1829 | 1989 | Montreal | An immense stone church built in the Romantic Gothic Revival style, it was upon completion the largest church in either Canada or the U.S. for half a century; the first significant example of the Gothic Revival style in Canada, with many of Quebec's most celebrated architects and artisans helping complete the decoration of the church in the 19th and 20th centuries | |
Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery | 1854 | 1999 | Montreal | The largest cemetery in Canada and an outstanding cultural landscape; the historical significance of many of the persons buried in the cemetery commemorates many aspects of the history of Montreal, Quebec and Canada | |
Outremont Theatre | 1929 | 1993 | Montreal | An cinema with an Art Deco exterior and a combined Art Deco and atmospheric interior; a noted example of the type of deluxe cinemas erected in new suburban neighbourhoods across Canada during the 1920s | |
Pavillon Mailloux | 1931 | 1997 | Montreal | A five-storey brick nurses’ residence on the campus of Montreal's Notre-Dame Hospital; construction of this purpose-built residence in 1931 symbolized the growing professionalism of nursing and the expanding role of women in health care | |
Rialto Theatre | 1924 | 1993 | Montreal | A movie palace and an exceptional example of Beaux-Arts architecture in Canada | |
Roger Gaudry Building | 1928-1943 | 2018 | Montreal | Eclectic monumental building and tower by Ernest Cormier at the University of Montreal remains a landmark, symbol of inter-war Quebec's support for academic pursuits | |
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Canal | 1843 | 1929 | Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue | A canal constructed by the Board of Works of the Province of Canada to by-pass the Ste. Anne's Rapids in the east channel of the Ottawa River; commemorates the important role played by such waterways during the 19th and 20th centuries | |
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal | 1904, 1967 | 2003 | Montreal | A large Roman Catholic pilgrimage site located on the north slope of Mount Royal, dominated by a landmark domed basilica; conceived by André Bessette, it has developed into a national and international religious and tourist destination | |
Saint-Sulpice Seminary and its Gardens | 1687 | 1980 | Montreal | A religious seminary with garden; a rare and remarkable example of French Regime classicism known also for the historical integrity of its convent garden | |
Senneville Historic District | 1860 | 2002 | Senneville | A historic district that evolved from a late-19th-century resort village which comprised the country estates of wealthy Montrealers; representative of the development of Picturesque landscape design and Arts and Crafts architecture from 1865 to 1930 | |
Sir George-Étienne Cartier | 1838 | 1964 | Montreal | Two houses that together served as the residence of Sir George-Étienne Cartier, a Father of Confederation; representative of an upper-middle class Montreal home of the mid 19th century | |
St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church | 1940 | 1999 | Montreal | A predominantly Byzantine-style church, it is the earliest-known, purpose-built church of the Syrian Orthodox community in Canada that continues to fulfil its original role; an important symbol of the history and traditions of this community in Canada | |
St. George's Anglican Church | 1870 | 1990 | Montreal | An Anglican church in downtown Montreal that is an excellent example of the High Victorian phase of the Gothic Revival style | |
St. James United Church | 1888 | 1996 | Montreal | A large stone church in the High Victorian Gothic Revival style, closely associated with the late phase of Methodism in Canada; best known example in the country of an amphitheatre plan for the nave and transept and a Sunday school influenced by the Akron plan in the chancel | |
St. Patrick's Basilica | 1847 | 1990 | Montreal | A noted example of French Gothic Revival architecture in the country; built to serve one of the largest early influxes of Irish immigrants to what is now Canada, the heart of the Irish population of Montreal, and the location of the funeral of Thomas D’Arcy McGee in 1868 | |
Sulpician Towers / Fort de la Montagne | 1694 | 1970 | Montreal | Two towers that were once bastions of a fort built by François Vachon de Belmont for the Sulpicians of a nearby mission; once housed the school and nuns of Marguerite Bourgeoys | |
The Fur Trade at Lachine | 1803 | 1970 | Montreal | A single-storey stone warehouse located in an attractive park-like setting on the banks of the Lachine Canal; originally built by the North West Company, the warehouse symbolizes the history of the fur trade in Montreal | |
The Main | 1996 | Montreal | A long stretch of Saint Laurent Boulevard where consecutive waves of immigrants settled; the merging and mixing of cultures created a character that inspired novelists, poets, singers, and film-makers | ||
Trafalgar Lodge | 1848 | 1990 | Westmount | An asymmetrical -storey brick villa; a rare example of a Gothic Revival villa in Quebec | |
Van Horne / Shaughnessy House | 1848 | 1973 | Montreal | The Second Empire-style mansion of Thomas Shaughnessy, 1st Baron Shaughnessy, now forming part of the Canadian Centre for Architecture | |
Westmount District | 1874 | 2012 | Westmount | The historic district of Westmount which epitomizes the architectural styles and trends in landscape architecture of 1890 to 1930; reflects the efforts of local citizens who, from the early 20th century onwards, sought to protect the diversity and historic integrity of the district's built environment | |
Wilson Chambers | 1868 | 1990 | Montreal | A four-and-a-half-storey stone Gothic Revival style commercial building with Italianate and Second Empire influences; while many churches and institutional buildings were erected in this style in the 19th century, Gothic Revival commercial buildings were rare and this is one of the few remaining examples in Canada | |
Windsor Station | 1889 | 1975 | Montreal | A railway terminal and Canadian Pacific Railway head office originally designed by Bruce Price; one of the earliest major buildings in Canada to use the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style |