At least this Montreal Landmark will be Preserved

Another familiar sight for most of our lives were the magical window displays of all the big retailers of the day. Now many years and decades later as many of the familiar old big name stores of Montreal have disappeared,one of the last mohicans (are we allowed to say that.......lol) has decide to gift their iconic Christmas window display to the McCord Museum.....a good choice ,rather than just getting rid of it to no where's land. However it is another exapmle of Montreal landmarks and history just disappearing......Ahhh! Nostalgia Really Isn't What it Used to Be.

Montreal’s McCord Museum will inherit Ogilvy’s much-loved mechanical holiday window displays of small stuffed animals interacting in an imaginary setting, the museum announced on Wednesday.

The windows, which have delighted families since 1947, have been transferred to the downtown social history museum. They will be accessible to visitors, free of charge, from mid-November to early January.

The end of the Christmas window display tradition comes only months after the demise of another long-standing tradition at Ogilvy’s: For 72 years, until last September, a kilted bagpiper wandered through the store at lunchtime, skirling. Reaction to the decision to silence the pipes was swift and angry.

The Selfridges Group, which includes Holt Renfrew & Co. Ltd., acquired Ogilvy in 2011. Now a department store housing numerous boutiques, the store was founded in 1866 by James A. Ogilvy as a linen shop; it has been at its current location since 1896. 

A multimillion-dollar phased renovation and expansion of the Ste-Catherine St. building to merge the Holt Renfrew and Ogilvy stores is set to be complete in 2020. The store is being rebranded Holt Renfrew Ogilvy.

“We are focused on getting the best of both stores under one roof and one banner, while honouring traditions and events that celebrate Montreal’s rich fashion heritage,” the store said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are honoured to update and preserve the landmark Ogilvy building in Montreal — including, for example, the preservation of Tudor Hall — and its important heritage in the community.”

Tudor Hall, on the store’s fifth floor, was once a music hall and it had a concert pipe organ.

The Mill in the Forest: Mechanical display has graced the window of the Ogilvy store in downtown Montreal during the Christmas season each year from 1947 onward. PHOTO COURTESY HOLT RENFREW OGILVY

A statement from Holt Renfrew Ogilvy explained its decision to end the Christmas window display tradition as a move intended “to protect, preserve and ensure their continuity as a landmark of Montreal’s Christmas atmosphere … They have become heritage pieces that we feel need to be managed by the museum’s restoration experts in order to ensure their preservation and continuity over the long term.”

The donation is being accompanied by a gift of $50,000 to the museum’s foundation toward the maintenance of the mechanical displays. 

Custom-made by the German plush-toy company Steiff, the displays feature two environments: the Enchanted Village and the Mill in the Forest.

Said Suzanne Sauvage, the McCord’s president and CEO: “We are delighted that Holt Renfrew Ogilvy chose the McCord Museum for this important legacy.”