Glorious past for landmark threatened by demolition
The controversy over a proposed 30-storey office tower on the site of the Maison Alcan has brought to light Montreal’s long forgotten role as the birthplace of organized figure skating in Canada.
The real-estate project by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté and Yale Properties Ltd. calls for demolition of the 103-year-old Winter Club of Montreal at 2055 Drummond St.
Last month, the Montreal Gazette revealed the club served as the original headquarters of Skate Canada, founded in 1914 as the Figure Skating Department of the Amateur Skating Association of Canada.
The Georgian-style building, occupying the entire block from Drummond to Stanley St., was built in 1912 by architects Edward and William Maxwell, who designed the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the landmark tower of the Château Frontenac in Quebec City.
The Winter Club hosted seven Canadian Figure Skating Championships from 1920 to 1941, as well as the 1932 World Figure Skating Championships and 1935 North American Figure Skating Championships.
Now, additional information from Montreal Gazette readers, Skate Canada’s archives and newspaper files have helped piece together the story of this forgotten sports landmark.
For Diana Wilkins Bell of Côte-St-Luc, last month’s article about the Winter Club brought back memories of her late mother, Margot Barclay Wilkins, the 1928 Canadian figure skating women’s champion.
An all-around sportswoman who excelled at tennis, badminton and sailing, Barclay Wilkins often reminisced about the club, which held a popular carnival each year, her daughter recalled.
“She said how much fun they had, the costumes and the carnivals and the shows,” said Wilkins Bell, 76.
Montreal’s golden age of skating ended in 1943, when the federal government bought the club at the height of the Second World War and turned it into a drill hall for the HMCS Donnacona naval reserve.
It was designated a Recognized Federal Heritage Building in 1995 for its historic and architectural value, but lost that status when it was sold to a developer in 2008.
On Thursday, the historic skating club got a temporary reprieve when the city announced the controversial redevelopment of the Maison Alcan has been put on hold.
The Ville-Marie borough had been scheduled to approve the project Tuesday.
Executive-committee member Richard Bergeron, responsible for downtown strategy, said the city needs to study vacancy rates and real estate speculation.