Neo-Gothic Church

Ascension of Our Lord is an English Catholic Church in Westmount built in the neo-gothic style, which was quite unusual for a Catholic Church in 1926 in the Montreal area. I was built on land acquired from the Grey Nuns.

Although I regularly drive past this Church it is most often in the evening when I don’t really notice it. Today, stopped at a traffic light, I glanced around, and then pulled over briefly to take a closer look.

A little research on the church’s website outlines some controversy over the church’s beginnings. It was founded by Irish Catholics From Westmount who had been attending a French language church, but wanted an English church in the area. The first request was denied by the archbishop, so they set of to the Vatican to seek approval, which was given.

An interesting point of architecture is the placement of the bell tower. It was built over the transept crossing with belfry and pinnacles, and not over the entrance of the church as is usually the case in Catholic churches. This type of construction was more commonly seen in Protestant churches.