![Universal Appliances, 409 Rideau Street. January 24, 1954. Image: City of Ottawa Archives CA042915.](https://i0.wp.com/historynerd.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CA042915-W.jpg?resize=576%2C447)
Universal Appliances, 409 Rideau, and a car painted in a tartan pattern to promote Maytag’s Highlander automatic washer. Unlike the case in a certain movie, it was a popular line and far more than one was produced. Interestingly, the well-known appliance brand does not seem to have been entirely common in Ottawa: it was rarely advertised in either of the local papers when the photograph was taken. Instead, Ottawa was a Connor town, with Inglis, GE, Westinghouse, Easy, Viking, Beatty, and a few others being a common sight in the city’s laundry rooms.
![A 1956 advertisement. Source: Ottawa Citizen, December 13, 1956, p. 45.](https://i0.wp.com/historynerd.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1956-12-13-Page-45-700x462.png?resize=660%2C436)
Universal was the next door neighbour to Imbro’s, which is to the right.