Let’s start by facing the entrance to the Cathedral on Ste Catherine

The building you are looking at is the third Christ Church.

The previous cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1856.

A year later the foundation stone of this Cathedral was laid on land which was formerly the orchard of the Phillips estate after which Phillips Square across the road is named. After only two years of construction the building was completed in 1859.

Situated on the edge of Montreal, the location was controversial. One lady recalls her father saying “Well children, today our new church opens and we must go to service there, but I hardly know how we can get there, it is so far, far out in the country.”