Page 11 - A_View_Of_Their_Own_the_Story_of_Westmount

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The Jubilee Gem of 1899
While the new library was entirely built during
the mayoralty of Mr. Walker (1898-1899), his was
one of the few mayoral portraits never painted for
City Hall. When his great grand-daughter, Diana
McMurray, discovered the discrepancy in 1994,
the city commissioned painter John Barwick to
create a portrait of Mr. Walker from photographs
in time for the opening of the refurbished library
in November 1995.
"It seemed an appropriate time," Mrs. Mc-
Murray said, noting that her own children, as
descendants of Mr. Walker's father-in-law, Henry
Earle, were the sixth generation of the family to live
in Westmount. Mayor Walker, she says, was known
as a "soft-spoken and modest man" who was very
frugal and probably considered it a waste of money
to have his portrait painted.
The Findlay building, as the original library
came to be known, was a compact rectangular
structure of red brick. It had an imposing arched
entrance with a porch under a peaked gabled roof.
To the left was a large tower. Above the doorway and
on either side, were three reliefs in yellow sandstone
executed by sculptor George W Hill from Findlay
sketches (Hill also sculpted Westmount's cenotaph
monument in 1920).
Inside, the new library had a central delivery
room with the circulation desk directly across from
the entrance, catalogue section along the left side
and a closed stack room at the rear. Stretching all
along the north side, through heavy Romanesque
arches, was the large reading room, bisected into
the men's and ladies' reading rooms by more
arches. A two-sided fireplace made it cozy and
provided "gracious comfort".
Pendant light fixtures hung from coffered
ceilings above the arches. Stencilled friezes adorned
the walls. There were oak chairs, lighter wooden
chairs with wicker seats, oak tables and double
lamps with coloured glass shades.
The first collection offered current newspapers,
periodicals and 2,000 books catalogued by the
McGill University Library at a cost of 10 cents per
book. The stacks were closed to general access and
users had to request the desired book. The library
was open for general reading on the premises but
borrowing privileges were extended only to West-
mount residents registered as members.
Within three months, the fledgling library
boasted 700 members. In a year, it would have 600
more books. Soon it would be ready for expansion.
Evolution of the library's footprint by 1990
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