More than 1000 people visit it every day. For its books, but also for its lush glass greenhouse, a perpetual source of wonder, especially in winter.
The Westmount Public Library is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.e birthday. It was the first in Quebec to have free access and financed by citizens’ taxes.
“It’s rare to have such magnificent places where you can enter without even having to buy a coffee,” rightly emphasizes its director Anne-Marie Lacombe.
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The Westmount Public Library is located in the park of the same name, at 4574 Sherbrooke Street West.
The Westmount Public Library is very dear to its community of 7,500 members. However, you don’t need to live in the well-off demerged city to frequent it. “I often say that we have the word “public” in our title,” emphasizes Anne-Marie Lacombe. Yes, you need a library card to borrow materials, but our doors are open to everyone. »
For Westmount residents, library membership is free. Otherwise, the annual rate ranges from $60 to $160 depending on age and status.
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The facade, so well preserved
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The view from the room where you can read many newspapers from here and elsewhere.
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Students, teleworkers, families and literature lovers rub shoulders there. Even Barbada came twice rather than once for story time.
A line of female directors
Anne-Marie Lacombe became director of the Westmount Public Library in September 2022 after serving as assistant to her predecessor, Julie-Anne Cardella. Previously, she had worked at the Saint-Lambert library and in the Centre-Sud library, Père-Ambroise. She praises the importance and role of her workplace, which is a vocation for her.
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Anne-Marie Lacombe, director of the Westmount Public Library and community events
“For the concept of public space, the community, the different clienteles that meet… It’s a place where everyone is treated equally,” she argues.
The second director in the history of the library, Mary Sollace Saxe, remained in post for 30 years, from 1901 to 1930. A feminist before her time, but also an avant-garde who wrote in newspapers and led the project of children’s pavilion annexed to the library in 1911.
American of origin, Mary Sollace Saxe campaigned for universal access to literature and reading, particularly for children. In 1919 she published the book Our Little Quebec Cousin.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CITY OF WESTMOUNT
The City of Westmount’s horticulture team takes care of the plants in the glass room called the Conservatory. As for the heritage greenhouses, they are under renovation.
If each library is unique, that of Westmount is particularly so. You can feel the history between its walls, and its Horticultural Conservatory – a greenhouse that you can admire from several points of view thanks to a glass vault – is a real oasis.
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From the table with a puzzle that everyone can advance as they wish, you can admire the Horticultural Conservatory.
Numerous major works have been carried out over time on the original building designed by architect Robert Findlay. There was an expansion in 1924, the addition of the greenhouse in 1927 and the construction of an annex in 1959.
In 1995, the Westmount Public Library underwent a real metamorphosis while retaining its former character thanks to major work orchestrated by architect Peter Rose. A glazed area allows you to admire the Horticultural Conservatory, which connects the library to the Victoria Hall community center from the inside. “The new section has no major demarcation with the neo-Tudor architecture of the original part,” observes Anne-Marie Lacombe.
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The former children’s pavilion built in 1911 is today a meeting and conference room. Story time is also held in front of the fireplace.
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The building is very well preserved.
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Plant lovers can also consult a seed library.
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There are 175,000 documents, including 40,000 in French. Karina Cahill is responsible for developing the French-speaking collection.
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” Like at home “
At 93 years old, Rachel Phillipson-Levy is a long-time library member and one of its most loyal. She goes there almost every day: she doesn’t even need to set foot outside to get there since she lives in the seniors’ residence at Manoir Westmount, connected to the community center.
“I pass through the greenhouse which is magnificent,” she emphasizes. Even with my children and my grandchildren, I always came to the library. I feel at home here. »
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Rachel Phillipson-Levy
” I like the atmosphere. It is quiet. The staff is very competent and knows me well,” continues the French native who has lived in Montreal for seven decades.
Rachel Phillipson-Levy has been an avid reader since childhood. “When I was little, I had a flashlight and I read under the sheets,” she says, remembering how extraordinary the books in the Comtesse de Ségur collection were.
His latest crush? The Pilot’s Wifeby Anita Shreve, devoured in three days.
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The atrium
On the program for the 125e birthday
Anne-Marie Lacombe emphasizes that work in progress in the basement will allow the renovation of the section for adolescents and the development of a space dedicated to technological and artisanal creation.
For the 125th festivitiese birthday, an outdoor party is planned for June 9. On November 23, opening hours are extended on the theme Party after closing.
What has remained for 125 years: the Library Committee, whose candidates are appointed for three years. But also the red brick, the cylindrical turret and the large windows of the historic building of Victorian architecture.
However, in the words of Westmount Mayor Christina M. Smith, it is the patrons and staff that make the library so special.