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Victoria Skating Rink
The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor ice skating rink located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened in 1862, it was described at the start of the twentieth century to be "one of the finest covered rinks in the world". The building was used during winter seasons for pleasure skating, ice hockey and skating sports on a natural ice rink. In summer months, the building was used for various events, including musical performances and horticultural shows. It was the first building in Canada to be electrified.
The rink hosted the first-ever recorded organized indoor ice hockey match on March 3, 1875. The ice surface dimensions were confined to the distance between Drummond and Stanley Streets, which came to define the standard for today's North American ice hockey rinks. It was also the location of the first Stanley Cup playoff games in 1894 and the location of the founding of the first championship ice hockey league, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada in 1886. Frederick Stanley, the donor of the Stanley Cup, witnessed his first ice hockey game there in 1889. In 1896, telegraph wires were connected at the Rink to do simultaneous score-by-score description of a Stanley Cup challenge series between Montreal and Winnipeg, Manitoba teams, a first of its kind.
The rink was also notable for its role in the development of figure skating in Canada. It held some of the first competitions in the sport in Canada. During its existence, it was the home of two important clubs, the Victoria Skating Club and the Earl Grey Skating Club. It was the home rink of Louis Rubenstein, considered one of the first world champions of the sport, and also an important organizer.
The rink was located in central Montreal between Drummond Street and Stanley Street, immediately north of Dorchester Boulevard (presently René Lévesque Boulevard). It was located one block to the west of Dominion Square (today's Dorchester Square), where the Montreal Winter Carnivals of the 19th century were held. Surpassed by other facilities, including the Montreal Forum, the rink was sold in 1925 and today the site is occupied by a parking garage.
Designed by Lawford & Nelson, Architects, the building was a long (252 by 113 feet [77 m × 34 m]), wide, two-storey brick edifice with a 52-foot-high (16 m) pitched roof supported from within by curving wooden trusses, which arched over the entire width of the structure. Tall, round-arched windows punctuated its length and illuminated its interior, while evening skating was made possible by 500 gas-jet lighting fixtures set in coloured glass globes. At a later date, the lighting was converted to electric, making the building the first in Canada to be electrified.
The ice surface measured 204 feet (62 m) by 80 feet (24 m), dimensions very similar to today's National Hockey League (NHL) ice rinks. It was surrounded by a 10-foot-wide (3.0 m) platform, or promenade, which was elevated approximately 1 foot (30 cm) above the ice surface and upon which spectators could stand or skaters could rest. Later, a gallery was added with a royal box for visiting dignitaries. The ice itself was a 'natural' ice surface, frozen by the coldness of the season, not by the later invention of mechanically-frozen ice.
At the time of its construction, the rink's location at 49 Drummond Street (now renumbered to 1187), placed it in the centre of the English community in Montreal, in the vicinity of McGill University. The area is referred to today as the "Golden Square Mile", the area of central Montreal populated then by rich businessmen of British descent who had made the city the budding centre of commerce in Canada. One block east was Dominion Square, where annual outdoor winter sporting events were held and later the Montreal Winter Carnival was held. Across the street to the east, the Windsor Hotel, a long-time centre of social life and meeting place of several sports organizations, was built in 1875, and was the site of the founding of both the Montreal Canadiens (1909) and the National Hockey League itself in 1917. Nearby is old Windsor Station, which was the eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, built in 1889.
The Victoria Skating Club was incorporated on June 9, 1862, with a sizable capitalization of CA$12,000 (equivalent to $254,219 in 2025), for the purpose of buying the land and building the rink. The directors included members of prominent families of the Golden Square Mile: John Greenshields, whose family owned the largest drygoods wholesale firm in Canada and James Torrance, whose family owned a prosperous provisions wholesale firm. The rink, one of the first and largest indoor rinks in North America, was completed and opened on December 24, 1862. However, it was not the first indoor rink in Montreal. The first had opened in 1859, at the north end of St. Urbain Street, for the Montreal Skating Club. It was the first of numerous ice rinks in Canada to be named after Queen Victoria. By about 1880, membership in the Victoria Skating Club had reached 2,000, mostly drawn from Montreal's upper classes, who enjoyed considerable leisure time and could afford to participate in such events as the fancy-dress balls, which were a regular feature at the rink.
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Victoria Skating Rink
The Victoria Skating Rink was an indoor ice skating rink located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened in 1862, it was described at the start of the twentieth century to be "one of the finest covered rinks in the world". The building was used during winter seasons for pleasure skating, ice hockey and skating sports on a natural ice rink. In summer months, the building was used for various events, including musical performances and horticultural shows. It was the first building in Canada to be electrified.
The rink hosted the first-ever recorded organized indoor ice hockey match on March 3, 1875. The ice surface dimensions were confined to the distance between Drummond and Stanley Streets, which came to define the standard for today's North American ice hockey rinks. It was also the location of the first Stanley Cup playoff games in 1894 and the location of the founding of the first championship ice hockey league, the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada in 1886. Frederick Stanley, the donor of the Stanley Cup, witnessed his first ice hockey game there in 1889. In 1896, telegraph wires were connected at the Rink to do simultaneous score-by-score description of a Stanley Cup challenge series between Montreal and Winnipeg, Manitoba teams, a first of its kind.
The rink was also notable for its role in the development of figure skating in Canada. It held some of the first competitions in the sport in Canada. During its existence, it was the home of two important clubs, the Victoria Skating Club and the Earl Grey Skating Club. It was the home rink of Louis Rubenstein, considered one of the first world champions of the sport, and also an important organizer.
The rink was located in central Montreal between Drummond Street and Stanley Street, immediately north of Dorchester Boulevard (presently René Lévesque Boulevard). It was located one block to the west of Dominion Square (today's Dorchester Square), where the Montreal Winter Carnivals of the 19th century were held. Surpassed by other facilities, including the Montreal Forum, the rink was sold in 1925 and today the site is occupied by a parking garage.
Designed by Lawford & Nelson, Architects, the building was a long (252 by 113 feet [77 m × 34 m]), wide, two-storey brick edifice with a 52-foot-high (16 m) pitched roof supported from within by curving wooden trusses, which arched over the entire width of the structure. Tall, round-arched windows punctuated its length and illuminated its interior, while evening skating was made possible by 500 gas-jet lighting fixtures set in coloured glass globes. At a later date, the lighting was converted to electric, making the building the first in Canada to be electrified.
The ice surface measured 204 feet (62 m) by 80 feet (24 m), dimensions very similar to today's National Hockey League (NHL) ice rinks. It was surrounded by a 10-foot-wide (3.0 m) platform, or promenade, which was elevated approximately 1 foot (30 cm) above the ice surface and upon which spectators could stand or skaters could rest. Later, a gallery was added with a royal box for visiting dignitaries. The ice itself was a 'natural' ice surface, frozen by the coldness of the season, not by the later invention of mechanically-frozen ice.
At the time of its construction, the rink's location at 49 Drummond Street (now renumbered to 1187), placed it in the centre of the English community in Montreal, in the vicinity of McGill University. The area is referred to today as the "Golden Square Mile", the area of central Montreal populated then by rich businessmen of British descent who had made the city the budding centre of commerce in Canada. One block east was Dominion Square, where annual outdoor winter sporting events were held and later the Montreal Winter Carnival was held. Across the street to the east, the Windsor Hotel, a long-time centre of social life and meeting place of several sports organizations, was built in 1875, and was the site of the founding of both the Montreal Canadiens (1909) and the National Hockey League itself in 1917. Nearby is old Windsor Station, which was the eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, built in 1889.
The Victoria Skating Club was incorporated on June 9, 1862, with a sizable capitalization of CA$12,000 (equivalent to $254,219 in 2025), for the purpose of buying the land and building the rink. The directors included members of prominent families of the Golden Square Mile: John Greenshields, whose family owned the largest drygoods wholesale firm in Canada and James Torrance, whose family owned a prosperous provisions wholesale firm. The rink, one of the first and largest indoor rinks in North America, was completed and opened on December 24, 1862. However, it was not the first indoor rink in Montreal. The first had opened in 1859, at the north end of St. Urbain Street, for the Montreal Skating Club. It was the first of numerous ice rinks in Canada to be named after Queen Victoria. By about 1880, membership in the Victoria Skating Club had reached 2,000, mostly drawn from Montreal's upper classes, who enjoyed considerable leisure time and could afford to participate in such events as the fancy-dress balls, which were a regular feature at the rink.