Month: January 2015

Back in 2013, when I began writing short histories for Ottawa Start, the second story that I had published was about the boarded up, derelict Gilbert Apartments at 293 Lisgar Street. Constructed by Miss Maud Thoburn, I wrote

Maud worked as a Departmental Inspector with the Post Office and was quite active in the community, her name frequently found in the social pages of both the Citizen and the Journal. It is unclear whether she later purchased the lot to construct the apartment, or if the property had remained in the family and she simply inherited it as the eldest daughter following the death of her parents. Nevertheless, she commissioned Werner Noffke to design a six unit apartment building on the lot that she would herself live in.

Maud occupied Apartment No. 4 in her building from its completion in 1939 until 1980, when she moved to 207 MacLaren. At 98 years, it [may have been] that climbing the stairs to her apartment became challenging and home with an elevator became necessary. She did not live there for long, however, she died the following year. Clearly, a woman who enjoyed a full life and although it’s not for much longer, one whose contribution to Ottawa’s urban fabric has remained with us.

Little has changed since I wrote that short story. The building remains standing in very much the same state. During a previous visit to LAC, I had some spare time and decided to take a look at the plans on microfiche. Remembering this story, “Job 994” stuck out in my mind. Although everything seems to be in order, it appears that the front elevation of the building was modified at some point to balance out the windows while adding one to the corner. I am not certain about when this happened¹It’s worth noting that the building was originally designed with two floors. The third was added following the initial design.. The remaining elevations have remained unchanged, save for the removal of the fire escapes.

Source: Library and Archives Canada, Werner E. Noffke Fonds, Acc. 77803/7, NMC 140489.

Source: Library and Archives Canada, Werner E. Noffke Fonds, Acc. 77803/7, NMC 140492.

Source: Library and Archives Canada, Werner E. Noffke Fonds, Acc. 77803/7, NMC 140493.

If you will remember, last year I wrote about some of the “excitement” that took place in the apartment building that I live in. Although I provided something of a nice overview of the events of the property, I was wholly unclear about how the specific building came to be. For an unrelated purpose, I paid a visit to the City of Ottawa Archives and once I was finished collecting what I was looking for¹M.A. Seymour’s “Ottawa Land Enquiry” (1953)., I decided to explore the open stacks in the city’s beautiful facility at 100 Tallwood Drive.

Continue reading White House Apartments, Redux