WHA pays tribute to Dorchester

Now, the Westmount Historical Association has announced the lineup of its spring lectures, and this time the history of Dorchester Boulevard will be examined in a series of four monthly talks at the Westmount Public Library.

On Thursday, Feb. 15, guest speakers Caroline Breslaw and Ruth Allan-Rigby will present the lecture ‘The Macaulays and Robert Findlay: 4100 Dorchester Boulevard West’, an historical introduction to the Dorchester Boulevard area of Westmount that will focus on the Macaulay family patronage of architect Robert Findlay, beginning with the headquarters of the Sun Life Assurance Company at 266 Notre Dame Street West. Findlay designed three family homes for the Macaulays: 4100 Dorchester Boulevard, 3233 The Boulevard (now The Study), and 3228 Cedar Avenue (now Miss Edgar’s & Miss Cramp’s School).

On March 15, Jane Everett of McGill University will present ‘Translating Gabrielle Roy’. Dorchester Boulevard was the home of the author from 1939 to 1947, while she was writing her first novel, Bonheur d’occasion (The Tin Flute).

This talk will deal with Roy’s personal and professional relationship with one of her translators, the English-Canadian writer, Joyce Marshall (a native Montrealer). The focus will be on the letters the two women exchanged between 1959 and 1980. Marshall translated three of Roy’s works—La route d’Altamont (The Road Past Altamont), La rivière sans repos (Windflower), and Cet été qui chantait (Enchanted Summer); each project posed particular problems, some of which are addressed in the correspondence.

On April 19, Sophie Marcotte Ph.D. of Concordia University will present ‘Gabrielle Roy: From The Tin Flute to Enchantment and Sorrow’ She will emphasize the years 1939 to 1947, when Roy lived in rooming houses on Dorchester while she was writing The Tin Flute. She will also talk about the years following the publication of The Tin Flute in 1945 and about the consequences of this ‘instant’ success on her life, both as a wife and a writer.

The series winds up on May 17 with ‘Greenhythe, A Country Home in 1846 on Dorchester Boulevard’ featuring architect Michael Ellwood, who will talk about his family home, ‘Greenhythe’, which was built 45 years before Findlay built 4100 Dorchester and was not demolished until 10 years after.

Dorchester Boulevard was named to commemorate Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester, Governor-General from 1768 to 1778 and from 1786 to 1796. The early fur trader William Hallowell built his home south of Dorchester on the escarpment near Atwater. In a renewal project in 1962, 135 properties north of Dorchester and south of Tupper Street were expropriated in preparation to widened Dorchester from Hallowell Street to Atwater Avenue in 1966-1967.

The lectures will be held in the Westmount Public Library, 4574 Sherbrooke Street W. from 7 to 9 p.m. Admission is free for WHA members, $5 for non-members at the door. Info: 514-925-1404 or 514-932-6688.