Dorchester Square

Open space in downtown Montréal, Québec, often considered the central point of the city. It is the site of major Roman Catholic and Anglican churches

Originally a cemetery dating from the 1830s, Dorchester Square became part of the city in 1855. When the Basilique-Cathèdrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde was built here in 1870–94), it represented a move by the francophone Roman Catholic Church into a previously solidly anglophone, Protestant area of Montréal; the Anglican church of St George is also sited here. Other notable pieces of architecture here include the Sun Life Building (1913) and the Dominion Square Building (1929). Place du Canada, on the south side of the square, is now home to a number of high-rise office buildings. Dorchester Boulevard, running along its southern side, became Boulevard René-Levesque in the 1980s. The fashionable Rue Peel runs along the western side, while Place Ville-Marie, first centre of the Underground City, lies to the east.