St. George’s website

Let us do a guided tour of the building.

The first photo shows the main section of the church, as a parishioner would see it on Sunday morning. The main altar is at the far end of the picture and the organ is on the left side (pulpit side) of the choir area. The Lady Chapel is on the far right of the picture.

If a person sitting in one of the right-hand pews of the church were to turn around and look at the back of the church, his or her point of view would be that of the second photo.

Its Construction

The first portion of our present edifice was consecrated in 1892, followed by further additions. The church, as you see it today, was finally completed in 1897, making it the oldest such structure still standing in Westmount. It is perhaps the most notable example of “Arts and Crafts” church design in the Montreal area.

The Choir and the High Altar

The Lady Chapel

At first, it was truly a small chapel, because the first side addition for a Sacristy and transept left barely enough room for a chapel and maybe four or six pews. But when the entire side addition was built in 1896-1897, the chapel became as long as the church and could sit about 130 people.

In the last twenty years, most of the pews of that addition weren’t needed, so some of that space was reclaimed for other duties. For example, the Crèche was typically built in the middle of that addition. In the last years, the Crèche was installed on the Altar of the Lady Chapel.

The Organ

The organ is a Casavant double-manual (12 stops) that was installed in 1897, overhauled in 1944 and regularly maintained afterwards.

The Baptismal Font

A rather large baptismal font is placed near the main door. Baptism is the rite of entry into the family of Christ’s Church, not only in the Anglican tradition but also in all Christian bodies. Locating the font near the main entrance (i.e. behind the pews) symbolises the fact the child is entering the Church.

Infant baptism is the norm in the Anglican Church. However, as Christian baptism becomes less and less a habitual rite of passage for children in our society, our congregations become more used to seeing adults make a commitment of faith and being baptised.

The Parish Hall

The Parish hall was built in 1924. In the 1940s and 1950s, it must have been used for many presentations by the Sunday School, but there were not too many in the 1990s. However, we made good use of the hall for fellowship activities such as coffee hour (after the Sunday Eucharist), potluck dinners and suppers, discussion and study groups, prayer meetings, and the like.

The Refugee Centre, created in the 1980s also made good use of the Parish Hall. It is a ministry that helps people who recently arrived in Canada and in Montréal, as well as disadvantaged Canadians with paperwork, clothing, food and support.

© 2005 – Updated onMise à jour le 2009-11-22