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Similar Place Viger, Windsor Station, Sir George‑Étienne Cartier N, Montreal Clock Tower, Saint‑Sulpice Seminary | ||
Dalhousie Station (French: gare Dalhousie) is a former railway station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Built in 1884, the building stands at the corner of Notre-Dame Street and Berri Street in what is now Old Montreal. The oldest surviving railway station building in Montreal, Dalhousie Station was named after George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, who was Governor General of Canada from 1825 to 1828.
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Although the terminal location was originally purchased by the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway, all construction was done by the Canadian Pacific Railway after it purchased the QMO&O in 1882. Dalhousie Station thus became the original eastern terminus for CP Rail.
The station building has been the home of the Cirque Éloize since 2004.
Operation
The first non-stop transcontinental train left Dalhousie Station bound for Port Moody, British Columbia, on June 28, 1886 at 8:00 p.m.
Dalhousie Station was superseded on the transcontinental route by Windsor Station in February 1889, since it had a more convenient location on the west side of town. Windsor Station was in turn superseded by the grander Viger Station, a block to the north of Dalhousie Station, in 1898.
Design and redevelopment
Dalhousie Station is architecturally notable for the combination of stone and brick used to build it, as well as for its high windows.
The station is now part of a remodeled Dalhousie Square, completed in 2004, which links Old Montreal and the Faubourg Quebec residential district. Dalhousie Square was designed by Robert Desjardins of the City of Montreal and includes a sculpture by Jocelyne Alloucherie entitled Porte de jour. The redesigned square was honoured by the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects in 2006.