Dorchester Square MONTREAL Dorchester Square (originally Dominion Square) is a large urban square in downtown Montreal. Together with Place du Canada, the area is just over 21,000 m2 or 2.1 ha of manicured and protected urban parkland bordered by René Lévesque Boulevard to the south, Peel Street to the west, Metcalfe to the east and Dominion Square to the north. The square is open to the public 24 hours a day and forms a focal point for pedestrian traffic in the city. Until the creation of Place du Canada in 1967, the name Dominion Square had been applied to the entire area. Land acquisition to build the square began in 1872 and the site was inaugurated in 1878, not being thoroughly completed until 1892. The square has four statues was originally arranged in the form of a union jack. In 2010 $14-million was spent on a redesign with the removal of a flower stand on the southwest corner, all monuments refurbished, new street furniture and a lighting scheme which has greatly improved the look of the square after dark. As a nod to the fact that it was once a cemetery, small crosses have been imbedded in the walkways. In addition, some lights are pointed to shine on the foliage of the many trees, allowing for an interesting nocturnal green-glow in the summer. A planned renovation of Place du Canada has begun with renovations of the John A. Macdonald monument and the Cenotaph. A further renovation of Dominion Square street, including the bus/taxi parking area, subterranean garage entrance and exit and the kiosk is planned, and it is likely the square may be expanded with Dominion Square street converted for pedestrian use. Up until 1854, the square was little more than a public green and informal meeting place. Much of it was used for the Catholic Sainte-Antoine Cemetery, a hastily arranged cemetery for the victims of the 1851 Cholera Epidemic. In that year, the bodies were exhumed and moved to Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery on the Northwestern side of Mount Royal. In 1869, St. George's Presbyterian church was erected at the corner of Peel and De la Gauchetière. It spawned the construction of several other Protestant churches and cathedrals in and around Dorchester Square, which was beginning to take form as a dividing line between the estates and suburbs of the Northwest and the retail and commercial areas to the East and Southeast. The 1870s provided several massive projects which contextualized the green as a central meeting point, prestige address and formalized the use of the square. Land acquisition began in 1872 and the park took its present form in 1878. Simultaneously, the Catholic Archdiocese began construction of St. James Cathedral across from Southeast corner of the Square. Along the western edge of the Square, the Windsor Hotel was completed by 1878. With such prestigious construction and massive human traffic, the square became a vital component of the urban environment and a focal point for transit between the office and commercial sectors and the retail and suburban sectors. In 1889, the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed Windsor Station across De la Gauchetière from St. George's Cathedral, further increasing the importance of the square as a major focal point for intermodal transit systems. Later construction would involve the demolition of the original YMCA Building (1851) and the construction of the first portion of the Sun Life Building at the corner of Metcalfe and René Lévesque Boulevard, which would grow to take up the whole eastern side of the Square by 1931. In 1929, the northern side of the square was graced with the Dominion Square Building, designed as an integrated shopping arcade and office tower. The arcade was specifically designed to draw pedestrian traffic between the square and Saint Catherine Street. Thanks Magik