The 1947 aerial maps have become heroin for local geo-geeks, including emdx, who has graciously created this map overlay (higher res version
here) that could help you figure out a little bit of the what-was-where. The big square in the middle is what's now Place des Arts and those little now-disappeared streets in the middle of it were called Plateau and Winning. Who knew?
Of course someone named Ant6n
made an excellent map you can toggle between the Google maps/aerial view and the 1947 map, which is really essential although at this moment it's still a bit unfinished west of Atwater.
![]() |
| Where Alexis Nihon Plaza now sits |
![]() |
The Westmount Athletic Grounds
was hellish. |
![]() |
The Navy League building my dad demolished
to build his parking lot on Closse just about St. C |
I was working on a bunch of unsaved stuff which I lost when my photoshop crashed, including a map that coloured roofs to all the buildings knocked down between Peel/Guy/de Maisonneuve/St. Catherine since 1947.
![]() |
The massive parking lot behind city hall |
But I've popped in a few other geographical curiosities here, including the surprising nature of the area behind Westmount High (now the lovely Westmount Athletic Grounds).
Then there's the unabashedly huge parking lot on Champs de Marsand the buildings my dad knocked down to create his parking lot on the east side of the old Forum.
