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Raccoons in the Penthouse

Originally known as the Laurentian Towers, the Suites of Somerset has seen its share of action. Image: July 2014.

With the significant number of apartment towers that were constructed around Ottawa during the 1960s and 1970s, it would be easy to forget that for every two constructed, there is probably one that didn’t make it off the drawing board. In spite of a strong market for them, combined with an unprecedented level of institutional and governmental support, an announced project could – and often did – find itself cancelled after it was announced and a permit issued.

The Laurentian Towers, now known as the Suites of Somerset, almost didn’t make it. At some point previous to the passage of the new city-wide zoning in 1963, Phil Nesrallah and his brother (generally identified as the Nesrallah Bros, though the Journal did not identify him. I am uncertain about their relationship with the owners of the Nesrallah IGA nearby) successfully filed for a building permit to construct an apartment of 70 units and at a value of $510,000. During this period, when a developer filed for a building permit, it more often than not meant that they had already gone ahead and thoughtfully dug a hole and maybe even poured a little concrete.

For a lot with a building permit issued – especially in 1965 – it was awfully silent. Source: geoOttawa, 1965 Aerial Images.

This is not what happened, however. The building permit was issued and …nothing happened. No holes, no hardhats, no cranes, and no hammers. Nothing. By the end of 1966 (which was more than two years after the passage of the city’s new zoning bylaw), it was reported by the Journal’s Charles Lynch that they had deferred construction. It should be mentioned that because the MadDonald Manor received an extension that September, it was only fair that the fully private developers with outstanding buildings received the same treatment.

The following year, Nesrallah submitted a much larger plan for something of a mixed use complex – commercial, office, and of course, the apartment. This new plan was much more ambitious, not to mention potentially useful in a neighbourhood like Hintonburg. There was only one thing standing in the way: the city’s zoning bylaw. At first, the city’s Board of Control had rejected the proposal, in spite of Council’s approval.

Although this might appear to be setting up a narrative which pits the desires of a real estate developer against the city, that’s not where the battle took place. Interestingly, it was Nesrallah who appears to have become caught up in the centre of tensions between City Council and the Board of Control. Although it’s clear that Nesrallah wanted to see his new vision through, the fight moved beyond and erupted into a war of words between Council and the Board of Control.

As what exists today is substantially what had been proposed after 1967, it appears that City Council was the ultimate victor (the Board of Control met its end 10 years later). Following the back-and-forth, Nesrallah submitted another – slightly amended proposal – at the end of 1969 and the complex was constructed and open for business by early 1972. The apartment was operated as an apartment-hotel, which was a popular measure at the time to capture more of the market while conveniently not being subject to the same regulatory machinery of the rental housing market. He additionally constructed a small 5,000 square foot commercial building adjacent and reserved the top floor for offices.

It looms over Hintonburg today. Perhaps Cyril Sneer looks over the city, searching for ways to earn a little coin. Now that the W.C. and D. Kemp Edwards’ yards aren’t nearby, he’ll have to think outside the lumbering box. Image: July 2014.

Normally, this is where I’d introduce the architect and wrap it all up. I didn’t actually locate a citation and the events that took place in the penthouse offices are so much more interesting.

Update: It’s a Woolfson. Most of the time when it was constructed during the 1950s-1970s and I don’t know who designed it, Woolfson is a good guess.

Some of the events were notable, but mundane, some were exciting and creative, and some were downright scandalous. I’ll get the mundane out of the way first: the offices of the eighteenth floor were used through 1974-75 to conduct the Marin Commission, which investigated public complaints into the RCMP.

The Commission of Inquiry Relating to Public Complaints, Internal Discipline and Grievance Procedure within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Just rolls off the tongue. Source: PCO/Archived Commissions of Inquiry.

Once the Marin Commission was done with the space, the office penthouse played host to a much different client. Ottawa had long been home to a rather healthy animation industry. One of the largest and most successful at the time was Atkinson Film Arts, which had just finished of the acclaimed Little Brown Burro, a Christmas movie, in 1977.

While it hasn’t become a Christmas classic on the same plane as Frosty or the Grinch, it certainly was a capital point of pride during the late 1970s. Source: Ottawa Journal, December 13, 1977.

The company was flying high and by 1979, they became the penthouse’s tenant. From that room with a view atop the Hintonburg skyline, Atkinson’s legion of animators brought the first season of The Raccoons to life, the B-17 scene of Ivan Reitman’s Heavy Metal, and a number of other Canadian favourites. Atkinson’s star appeared to soar rather quickly, but a number of poor decisions made in the early 1980s would prove fatal to the venture by the end of the decade.

Hard at work atop Hintonburg. Source: Ottawa Journal, April 21, 1979

As Atkinson experienced its decline and fall, ownership of the Laurentian Towers was set for a change. Phil Nesrallah, looking to change gears, sold the building to Thomas Assaly Jr, son of Thomas Sr., who was head of the second-largest construction firm in the city. Thomas Jr., looking to follow in his father’s footsteps and get into the real estate and development business himself, engaged in a highly-leveraged purchase of the building in the summer of 1986. He wasn’t really alone in the tactic and it would be an understatement to say that many of Ottawa’s successful developers at the time found such tenuous leaps into the real estate market (both at home and abroad) attractive at the time.

Unlike his father, Assaly Jr. was something of a loose cannon. Just as it had become increasingly difficult for him to afford the mortgage payments on the complex, his decisions became increasingly irrational and erratic.

In 1987, reports had been made public that the 29 year old Assaly was alleged to have pulled a gun on Robert McLeod, Philip Nesrallah’s mortgage broker, who had met with him to levy a $50,000 penalty for non-payment on what was Assaly Jr’s fourth mortgage on the property. It was the act that may have been a breaking point: in addition to the realization that real estate success was not going to come easily (he was involved in a bit of a controversy over an apartment in Lowertown on Clarence at the same time), he had to face his brother’s death from muscular dystrophy that same season.

In April, the Citizen reported:

Lawyers for Thomas Assaly Jr . were back in court Wednesday to fight off a foreclosure attempt on the Laurentian Apartment Hotel where Assaly allegedly pointed a gun at a mortgage broker last week.

Assaly, 29, is charged with extortion and pointing a gun at the head of Robert McLeod while forcing him to sign a document absolving Assaly of a $50,000 mortgage penalty.

The Laurentian foreclosure application was filed by Philip Nesrallah and other members of his family who want the 17-storey building on Bayswater Avenue returned to them for non-payment of mortgage payments.

William Neville, representing the Nesrallahs, told an Ontario Supreme Court hearing that Assaly was $40,000 in arrears on a $1-million third mortgage and $30,000 in default on a $317,000 fourth mortgage held by the Nesrallahs.

In addition, Neville said, Assaly was $60,000 in arrears on the building’s municipal taxes and $100,000 in arrears on a $3-million first mortgage that was due to be paid off on Wednesday.

The first mortgage and a second mortgage for an unknown amount are held by commercial lenders.

Neville said the Nesrallahs wanted possession of the building to protect their equity until it could be resold and the financial ramifications of the sale to Assaly sorted out.

Richard Bosada, acting for Assaly, said returning the building to the Nesrallahs was not necessary as Assaly, with consent of the first mortgagee, had placed the building in the hands of a receiver on Tuesday.

Bosada said Assaly was not opposed to the receiver overseeing the sale of the building. Neville said the Nesrallahs want the sale monitored by a court appointed official.

The hearing was adjourned until today to allow both sides time to work out a mutually acceptable out-of-court agreement.

The Nesrallah petition was filed before last week’s alleged incident at the apartment hotel, where Assaly has an office.

The apartment hotel was built by the Nesrallahs in the early 1970s and sold to Assaly in June for between $6 and $8 million, a figure that reportedly is also in dispute.

Source: Ottawa Citizen, April 2, 1987, B3 (Dennis Foley)

By the mid-1990s, his “roaring twenties” had come to an end and he had settled down at the helm of Les Suites Hotel.

Some of the stories from the top floor would mirror somewhat what was happening on the lower floors. General malaise, violence, drug deals, and the occasional shooting, the Laurentian Towers came to develop a reputation that was at the least self-defeating when it comes to maximizing the return on investment. A change of ownership in the early 1990s did little to improve things in the short-term. Nevertheless, as the years progressed, the Laurentian Towers (renamed the Suites of Somerset by 1992) has cleaned up and quieted down. Really, sort of a reflection of what has become of Hintonburg altogether.

Robert Magee’s Farm and (Lincoln) Field(s) of Dreams (Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre, 1972)

Lincoln Fields, in its current glory. Source: Google Maps (July 27, 2014)

If you’ve been following this blog and the things I’ve written elsewhere, you’re no doubt familiar with my own interest in the rapid development of Ottawa since the Second World War. In spite of my own unshakable preference for Centretown living and complete rejection of a life dependent on driving (or even public transit), there are two midcentury developed areas of the city which hold a special spot in my mind. One of them is the Prince of Wales complex at Hog’s Back, the site of my first off-campus apartment in 2001.

Continue reading Robert Magee’s Farm and (Lincoln) Field(s) of Dreams (Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre, 1972)

The Battle of Public Literacy and Public Finance

The view from Laurier and Metcalfe. Image: May 2014.

For a city that truly values literacy, it has always been a curious thing to me that Ottawa has something of a strange ambivalence when it comes to the construction and funding of public libraries. To be certain, the Ottawa Public Library system is most certainly something to be proud of. Well-run and generally balanced across the entire city, the network is well-used and highly popular.
At the same time, we’ve retained many of the old “ratepayers’ objections” to any adequate outlays right to this day. Our dedication to literacy is never exceeded by our dedication to thrift. Of course, the definition and operation of the two terms are now and have always been, highly subjective and will be used accordingly by everyone who ventures into the issue.

Nevertheless, I was looking through the May 19, 1954 edition of the Ottawa Journal and happened across this gem:

The_Ottawa_Journal_Wed__May_19__1954_ — “That Crowded Library, Old, Old Story.” Click for full size. Source: Ottawa Journal, May 19, 1954.

Essentially, the original 1906 ~~Carnegie~~ Ottawa Public Library was considered too small almost as soon as the doors opened. When you consider that it was too small and crowded for at least 40 years before this article was written – and another 20 until the version we have today was completed, you’d think the desire to not repeat past mistakes would be strong.

It has been called the ugliest building in Ottawa, a text-book example of “brutalist” architecture. Perhaps it is even the “least beautiful, least functional” building of its kind in Canada.

Mayor Bob Chiarelli calls it simply, and tactfully, taking care not even to insult a building: “inadequate in most every way.”

Welcome to the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library.

It’s an embarrassment, really, there is no other word that can properly describe Ottawa’s main library. Located at 120 Metcalfe St., it is a near-windowless, multi-tiered, pillar-obstructed, earth- tone-painted, soul-deadening monstrosity that has all the warmth and charm of a warehouse.

In addition to that (maybe it’s a blessing) it’s too small.

Ottawa’s main library opened in 1974, to service a city of 300,000. Even before amalgamation, the 80,000-square-foot building had become too small. Now, the main branch is expected to service a city of more than 700,000. The only saving grace in all this — the only way a problem is averted — is that the main branch is so damn ugly, not many people want to go there.

“When we started researching it, we discovered the branch was built in an architectural style called “brutalism,” remembers Barbara Clubb, chief librarian for the Ottawa Public Library. “In this particular case, at least, there is truth in advertising.”

Ottawa has, according to Ms. Clubb, the “least beautiful, least functional” main library in Canada. (That’s polite librarian talk, by the way, for “ugly and useless.”)

[emphasis mine] Ron Corbett, Ottawa Citizen, January 24, 2001, Page D1

Strong words, of course, and ones that were somewhat unfair to its architect, George E. Bemi (though I’ve personally not warmed up to the Brutalist aesthetic). In an interview with Maria Cook, it became clear that the same thread ran through his project as well: funding. Like the music teacher, library funding is often among the earlier ones to go when the greater economy becomes less certain. It always seems to feel like a frill, luxury, or option.

“Some would say the library started off too small,” says Ms. Clubb. “Everything gets kind of squished. Within a couple of years, they had to move a bunch of services out into this tower over the building.”

Trevor Boddy, a former Carleton University architecture professor and now a Vancouver-based architectural critic and historian, agrees.

Originally from Edmonton, Mr. Boddy recalls that his home town built a “much bigger, much better” library as a 1967 Centennial project. “Ottawa was always kind of undersized and lacking in vision.”

“I think the criticism is fair in the sense it’s too small now,” says Mr. Bemi. “We always knew that computers were going to come along, but we underestimated the amount of it. We feel the computer areas are too small and need space.”

And although Mr. Bemi did make the building accessible — people with wheelchairs enter a side door onto the first level and then use the elevator — it was always considered a weakness, especially since the circulation desk could only be reached by climbing stairs.

Critics have pointed to the one-way escalator and single elevator for people and freight. These were not his fault, says Mr. Bemi, but the result of a tight budget. “We would have probably put in a two- way escalator, but there wasn’t money for that sort of thing.”

[emphasis mine] Maria Cook, Ottawa Citizen, May 6, 2002, Page D1

And so it goes. Discussions have come and gone and will come and go again at a later date. I suspect that we can predict with astonishing precision just how the discussions will progress.

I’ve come to appreciate the bunker of knowledge. I just hope that the replacement that gets built in 30 years is a befitting a temple of learning.

Update: Yup

…

But Harder, a long-time advocate for public libraries, believes the $70-million price tag is a non-starter.

“I’m just not sure that’s the wisest expenditure of taxpayer dollars in this location,” said Harder. She points out that in 20 years, the ownership of the entire property at Laurier and Metcalfe will revert back to the city, at which time the city could sell the land or redevelop it in another way.

Harder is right. At $70 million — and likely more, as this is a basic estimate that can be off by as much as 30 per cent — this city must start a serious discussion about the possibility of building a new library.

Consider the new central library in Halifax scheduled to open later this year (and already named by CNN as one of 2014′s most “eye-popping”new buildings): the cost for the new building is about $58 million. Although at 108,000 square-feet, the East Coast library is slightly smaller than the 130,000 we’re looking for here in Ottawa, the build-from-scratch project is also costing significantly less than the estimate to rebuild ours.

There are those who will balk at the idea of a possible private partnership to build a new library. That’s a discussion worth having. But it’s more important that we do something about the eyesore that is the downtown central library. And Monday is the day to re-start that debate.

[emphasis mine] Joanne Chianello, Ottawa Citizen, July 7, 2014.

A Double Rainbow during rush hour at Elgin and Queen

I've receive that same look. It's truly timeless. Photo taken on June 17, 1957 by the Gilbert A. Milne Company for Thompson Petersen Advertising. Source: City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1653, Series 975, File 2424, Item 34551-3. — I’ve received that same look. It’s truly timeless. Photo taken at the corner of Elgin and Queen streets in June of 1957 by the Gilbert A. Milne Company for Thompson Petersen Advertising. Source: City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1653, Series 975, File 2424, Item 34551-3.

I can say that I always appreciate some street photography. While I can personally shoot buildings well enough, others, such as Ottawa’s own Mink Williams can catch some city action in ways that I can only dream of. This captured action, in turn, can certainly get a number of wheels turning. When photographers from Toronto advertising agency Gilbert A. Milne Co. were unleashed on to the streets of Ottawa on June 17, 1957 for an unknown campaign, they left us with ten of such images. As the Midcentury Modernist has already taken us through the ten (in the quality way we’ve come to expect), I’m content to focus on one of the images, shown above.

What I love about an image like this is that there are literally dozens of short histories that can be written based on what was captured. For my own part, it’s the neon of the Rainbow Restaurant that catches my attention. The Rainbow was the venture of Bill Saikaly and was opened as the second location of his popular Rainbow Restaurant at 283 Elgin Street. This second outlet at 39 Queen Street was opened in June of 1955.

The modern Rainbow opened in June of 1955. Source: Ottawa Journal, June 19, 1955. — Saikaly’s second Rainbow Restaurant (the “Uptown Rainbow”) opened in June of 1955 to better serve the “Uptown” crowd. The Sparks Street BIA has recently made attempts to reintroduce the Uptown moniker for the area. Source: Ottawa Journal, June 19, 1955.

The “Uptown Rainbow” would later become “Queen’s Restaurant”, then the “Old Vic” and finally “Victor’s Restaurant”. The building was subsequently demolished as part of the NCC’s Central Chambers project.

This slightly more contemporary view of the corner shows that the Rainbow had quickly become Queen's. — This slightly more contemporary view of the corner shows that the Rainbow had quickly become Queen’s. The wavy arrow beckoning the hungry into the restaurant became part of the Rainbow’s advertising.

Saikaly’s first Rainbow on Elgin opened around 1945 and it was dramatically modernized in 1952. 283 Elgin, by-the-by, is the current location of the Fox & Feather and is the site of the Harmon Apartments (c. 1912-13).

Today's Fox and Feather was yesterday's Rainbow Restaurant. If you look at the space between the two bay windows, you can see where the Rainbow's neon sigh was anchored to the wall. Source: Ottawa Journal, June 3, 1952. — Today’s Fox and Feather was yesterday’s Rainbow Restaurant. If you look at the space between the two bay windows, you can see where the Rainbow’s neon sign was anchored to the wall. Source: Ottawa Journal, June 3, 1952.

The restaurant (not the building, which remained with the Saikaly family) was subsequently sold to Eddie Malouf. On June 4, 1965, the restaurant went up in smoke. Following a brief stint as a book store (Don White & Sons) after the renovation, Elgin Street’s establishment as a restaurant destination was just too much to ignore. It then became My Cousin’s Restaurant, then Swagman Jack’s, and now the Fox & Feather.

The Fox and Feather today. Image: June 2014.

Midcentury Gothic Revival Workout

It has been quite some time since I wrote anything, so it’s time to get back on that horse. What better way than to begin with a very short hit.

Lisgar Collegiate's "South Building" Image: June 2014. — Lisgar Collegiate’s “South Building” Image: June 2014.

The gymnasium (or South Building) at Lisgar Collegiate blends (at least to my less-than-honed eye) the pleasingly clean sensibilities of midcentury modern design with the existing Gothic Revival style of Lisgar’s main building. Designed by A.J. Hazelgrove and J. Albert Ewart, the gymnasium was constructed in 1952 and was part of the Collegiate Board’s plans to expand their facilities to serve the growing population in Ottawa. When it, along with Fisher Park High School, was planned in 1948, it had more to do with the then-impending annexation by Ottawa of large swaths of Gloucester and Nepean Townships than it did with population growth. On another occasion, I will see that the issues surrounding it (the 1950 Annexation) are well fleshed out.

That makes three long-standing long-form articles now: my version of Chinese Democracy. Hopefully nowhere near as disappointing.

Glabar Takes Out the Henderson House

The Glabar Building: a commercial strip for Elgin Street. Image: May 2014.

As I have written about before, Elgin Street was not always the commercial and restaurant destination that it is today. Like a number of Ottawa neighbourhoods, it began as predominantly residential in nature and as the city grew, commercial uses came to be seen as a higher, better, and ultimately more profitable use. This meant, of course, the demolition of the old homes and apartments to make way for commercial blocks.

Continue reading Glabar Takes Out the Henderson House

A Saucy Update

The only remaining evidence of the Saucy Noodle. Image: April 2014.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the Saucy Noodle on Ottawa Start and didn’t quite know what happened in the end. A small mea culpa on my end, I always seem to forget that anyone with a computer at home and an Ottawa Public Library card can search the Ottawa Citizen going back to 1985 via ProQuest. While imperfect (no images, for example. I rather wish that the run of the Citizen and perhaps the Free Press were available on Newspapers.com), it does give me a more contemporary view as the Journal stopped publishing in 1980.

In any event, the Saucy Noodle closed down in 1987 and was replaced by the Osteria Luigi, a restaurant that took a distinctively more upscale approach and one that apparently specialized in veal dishes. The Citizen’s Elizabeth Elmsley opened her review as such:

Is it Osteria or Ostaria? The menu spells it one way, the phone book another. No matter. Whichever way you spell it, Osteria Luigi _ we’ll go with the menu spelling _ is a vast improvement on the Saucy Noodle that once occupied the premises at 409 Somerset St. W., just across from the Somerset Theatre.

Gone is the Saucy Noodle‘s rather tacky ambience; Osteria Luigi’s decor is bright, airy and elegant _ with mirrors, half pillars stained a soft green and art-deco wall sconces.

Reminiscent of the elegance of Stefano’s, this is not a red-checked tablecloth, Chianti bottle candle holder, strolling violinist type of place. This is northern Italian, urban chic.

Ottawa Citizen, May 6, 1988, Page B5.

It doesn’t appear that Osteria Luigi wouldn’t last too long, however. The last mention of the restaurant in the Citizen was in August 1991. It seems that Centretown’s appetite for veal dishes was somewhat limited. Perhaps Mama Teresa’s competition was too hot. In the Spring of 1992, it became On Tap II and when it was gutted by fire in the late fall, it was known as Joe Bloze Bar & Grill.

An early Saturday morning fire caused more than $200,000 damage to a recently opened Somerset Street bar.

“Right now I would say it’s unsalveagable,” said Darryl Brown, co-owner of Joe Bloze Bar & Grill, which opened in July.

The blaze at 409 Somerset St. near Kent Street began shortly before 5 a.m. Brown, who had left the location business around 3:30 a.m., said the fire was restricted to the second and third storeys of the 70-year-old building.

Ottawa Citizen, November 22, 1992, Page A7.

So then that was that. The hulking shell was demolished and the resulting gravel lot remains with us today. Perhaps archaeologists will some day come across a stray spoon or some other artifact of the hotspot that once stood.

Château Charlot: 200 Rideau Terrace

Update: Thanks to the ever-knowledgeable and observant Midcentury Modernist, I realize that I never did note who the architect of the apartment was. George Bemi, who had a long and prolific career in Ottawa designed this midcentury beauty for Robert Campeau. Shortly following its completion, he went on to design the Sampan Tavern Restaurant on Carling. Given this update, it’s back to the top! I originally wrote this in April 2013.

In very much the same way as they are today, the growing pains brought on by rapid growth and development were apparent in Ottawa during the decades following the Second World War. The case of Robert Campeau’s Champlain Towers at 200 Rideau Terrace in Lindenlea provides an excellent example. Between infrastructure that was not prepared for growth, a neighbourhood that was uncomfortable with intensification, legal delays, labour unrest, and, perhaps most visibly, the legendary feud between Mayor Charlotte Whitton and Robert Campeau, its little wonder that it was ever completed.

Fresh from the construction of their first tower apartment (Colonel By Towers, at Bronson and Holmwood),¹Babad, Michael and Catherine Mulroney (1989). Campeau: The Building of an Empire. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, p. 60. and an already well-established builder in Ottawa, the Campeau Corporation received a permit on July 31, 1959 to erect an 11-storey apartment building on Rideau Terrace was issued. Wasting no time, the company had excavated the lot in preparation for construction by December. Sensing the opportunity to construct a larger building, the company filed for a new amended permit to construct a 12 storey building with hefty increase in the number of units. City staff pointed out that – as had become increasingly common in the face of high rise development – the combined storm and sanitary sewer running under Putman Avenue did not have the available capacity.²Best, Patrick (1960). “Sewers Delay Campeau Permit.” Ottawa Citizen. June 8, 1960, p. 3.

Perhaps emboldened by his previous battles with then former mayor Charlotte Whitton or a stroke of the sort of brash hubris that he was known for, Campeau reacted to the (illegal) revocation³“Apartment Permit Revoked.” Ottawa Citizen. June 22, 1960, p. 7. of his building permit by declaring that he would press on, saying that “if the city wants to stop me now it will have to pay a lot of money for compensation.”⁴Best, Patrick and Paul M. Dunn (1960). “Campeau Defies City Council.” Ottawa Citizen. June 20, 1960, p. 7. With that line drawn in the sand, the city was faced with construction that was sure to overwhelm the existing sewage infrastructure, which was already struggling to contain the results of growth in Ottawa and Eastview (Vanier)⁵Ibid..

“When I look at his houses, I think perhaps nuclear bombardment might not be such a terrible thing after all.”

The situation only escalated from the city’s attempt to cancel the building permit. On June 22, 1960 (the evening following the permit’s cancellation), both Charlotte Whitton and Controller Sam Berger showed up at the site and it was alleged that they “interfered” with the proceedings. In response, Campeau launched a damage suit against the two and mulled having a writ issued against them. In response, Berger suggested that “[if] Mr. Campeau want to sue me for trespassing he is welcome to do so,” adding that “I am not going to be frightened by Mr. Campeau… I am upholding the interests of the residents and if I can help them I will do so.”⁶Best, Patrick (1960). “Whitton ‘Scene’ At Campeau Site Draws Legal Suit.” Ottawa Citizen. June 23, 1960, p. 1. Two days following, the Deputy City Solicitor affirmed that the revocation was indeed not legal and that, if city council was indeed opposed to the development on health grounds (re: the sewage overload) that they may be able to consult the Ottawa Board of Health.⁷Best, Patrick (1960). “Building Permit Legal.” Ottawa Citizen. June 25, 1960, p. 1.

Never one to go quietly, Whitton made good use of her On Thinking it Over column in the Ottawa Citizen suggesting that Campeau was manipulating Council to his own ends⁸Whitton, Charlotte (1960). “In Council Directing Or Directed?” Ottawa Citizen. June 29, 1960, p. 3. and later, painting a picture of him as a corrupt and seedy insider who has co-opted the Board of Control using in camera meetings to keep it quiet.⁹Whitton, Charlotte (1960). “In Camera Or Cahoots?” Ottawa Citizen. August 15, 1960, p. 3. In the meantime, development continued in the Rideau Terrace area – with considerably less controversy – when a Montreal-area developer was given the go-ahead¹⁰Best, Patrick (1960). “City Inspector Gives Okay For Apartment.” Ottawa Citizen. October 5, 1960, p. 57. to construct a 12-storey apartment¹¹Best, Patrick (1960). “Apartment Gets Okay From City Inspector.” Ottawa Citizen. October 7, 1960, p. 2. building on the southwest corner of Springfield and Rideau Terrace.

Campeau Settles on 12 Storeys: Final Plan

In the meantime, commensurate with the temperature, Campeau’s plans for what was still a hole in the ground at 200 Rideau Terrace had risen to 17 storeys from the original 11. It appears that the delay gave nearby residents the time to coordinate their efforts and collectively oppose Campeau’s desire to see his project grow any more than it already had. Also helpful to their cause was the re-election of Charlotte Whitton as Mayor. On February 22, 1961, the Citizen reported that “[c]onfronted with outright opposition to ‘piercing’ the present 110-foot ceiling on high-rise buildings, Mr. Campeau gracefully abandoned his plans for a 17-storey apartment on the Rideau Terrace site.”¹²Wilson, Phyllis and W.H. Arnott (1961). “Campeau Settles On 12 Storeys.” Ottawa Citizen. February 22, 1961, p. 1. Additionally, Campeau knew that if he were to continue to fight, he would not be able to begin construction by March 1 and miss his Spring 1962 opening.¹³Ibid. In order to expedite the construction process, a new tower crane was imported from Europe which was noted to cut days off the construction schedule.

“Chateau Charlot”: Whitton and Campeau continue to exchange barbs.

Never missing out on an opportunity to enlarge his vision for the contentious Rideau Terrace site, Campeau applied to the Federal Works Department for a $100,000 grant to construct a communal fallout shelter in the basement of the apartment. He was turned down on the basis that the program was intended to fund home-based shelters.¹⁴“Campeau Bid Rejected.” Ottawa Citizen. November 21, 1961, p. 1.

With the project well under way, it appeared that the ducks were finally lined up and the Spring 1962 opening would be a reality. Campeau, however, was not finished fighting. This time, it was not with the mayor, but rather with the Wood, Wire and Metal Lathers Union and the Plasterers and Cement Masons Union. Beginning in November¹⁵“Picket Lines At Apt. Jobs Are Orderly.” Ottawa Citizen. November 28, 1961, p. 19., both unions picketed the Champlain site to protest one of the subcontractors’ use of non-union labour.¹⁶Babad & Mulroney (1989), p. 66. Although he was not particularly fond on unions or unionism for that matter, Campeau did recognize them as a fact of doing business and the pickets were generally peaceful.¹⁷Ibid. That changed on the morning of January 8, 1962, when a number of the picketers blocked Campeau’s access to the Champlain site and words were exchanged. Following the incident, an injunction was secured and later extended against the unions with the judge reiterating that only peaceful picketing would be permitted.¹⁸“Injunction Continued Against Campeau Pickets.” Ottawa Citizen. January 17, 1962, p. 42.

In spite of all the excitement and acrimony, the Champlain Towers were officially opened in 1962. Determined to ensure that the apartments would attract a “good crowd” – and perhaps also in response to Whitton’s claim that there were “grave concerns” that “Government House will become the back yard of a row of apartment houses”¹⁹Wilson, Phyllis and W.H. Arnott (1961). “Campeau Settles On 12 Storeys.” Ottawa Citizen. February 22, 1961, p. 1. – Campeau sought and won Council’s approval for a two-storey penthouse addition to the recently-completed building.²⁰“Campeau gets go-ahead for penthouse addition.” Ottawa Citizen. July 15, 1963, p. 3. The gambit appears to have been a success, as the property was noted to have been adopted as the home of “politicians, diplomats, judges, and other leading figures.”²¹Babad & Mulroney (1989), p. 100-1. By the end of the 1963, the company began running advertisements in the Citizen, describing the penthouses as “sumptuous”, “magnificent”, and “distinguished”.²²Campeau Construction (1963). “Champlain Towers – Sumptuous Penthouse Suites.” (Advertisement). Ottawa Citizen. December 14, 1963, p. 34.

The rapid pace of development around Rideau Terrace proved to be quite enough for residents and Council alike. Neighbourhood opposition mixed with Campeau’s very public maneuvers to see the project through showed the limitations in the City of Ottawa’s zoning bylaw and planning process. To this end, the city commenced work on a new city-wide zoning by-law, which was predictably met with opposition from the city’s developers.²³Arnott, W.M. (1964). “City seeks extension of zoning bylaw.” Ottawa Citizen. February 19, 1964.

The incapacity of the Putman sewer also had to be dealt with. As noted above, high-rise construction placed a significant burden on a water and sewer infrastructure that was not designed with that level of density in mind and it was quickly found lacking in the face of it. The City was, therefore, forced to search for new sources of revenue that would be considered fair and equitable in increasing the capacity of the system. To this end, the city passed By-Law 449-62 under Section 4 of the City of Ottawa Act on December 17, 1962 which levied a tax of $125 per dwelling on high-rise residential construction, to be applied retroactive to May 2, 1960. The revenues raised under this scheme were to be dedicated to the expansion of the storm and sanitary sewer and water systems.²⁴City of Ottawa v. Royal Trust Co. [1964] SCR 526, pp.526-7.

Upon the passage of the By-Law, a number of developers including the Royal Trust Company, Kenson Construction, Freedman Realty, Pinecrest Investments, Rideau Terrace Ltd., and Shirden Investments filed suit with the Ontario Superior Court, claiming that the By-Law was not only outside of the city’s powers, but it was also discriminatory.²⁵Ibid. The group of developers failed in this petition, but were successful in having the By-Law quashed at the Ontario Court of Appeal. In front of the Supreme Court of Canada, the developers found – in an 8-1 decision – the Court supported the By-Law and noted that it was quite reasonable and legal.²⁶Ibid. The retroactive payments owed to the city were said to be worth approximately $2,000,000 (approximately $15,000,000 today) and worth $400,000 annually. Furthermore, the decision allowed the city to avoid charging “an emergency one-mill tax boost” to cover the costs.²⁷“Supreme Court upholds Ottawa’s high-rise tax.” Ottawa Citizen. May 11, 1964, pp. 1 and 3. Given Whitton’s public explosion in the previous summer during the grand opening of the new storm sewer along Putman (financed in majority by the City of Eastview),²⁸“Both dynamite, mayor explode at ceremony.” Ottawa Citizen. June 13, 1963, p. 5. the decision was clearly something to celebrate.

In the end, Campeau got his tower (although at 5 stories less than he had mused) and the City had won the ability to levy development charges based on building class – something very necessary to managing the rapid pace of population growth and construction. The communities surrounding the site at Rideau Terrace would have to wait until the next project – at the Craig and Son property – for their position on development in the area to be acknowledged.

In spite of such a colourful and eventful construction history, Campeau did not hold on to the property for a long time. A mere twenty years later, he sold his share to Vishbon Investments (aka Lithwick Brothers) as part of a greater project to divest the Campeau Corporation from “unproductive” residential holdings and focus on commercial properties, such as the Pinecrest Mall.²⁹Campbell, Cathy (1983). “Campeau Corp. sells its interest in prestigious apartment building.” Ottawa Citizen. July 21, 1983, p. 49.

Notes[+]

Notes
↥1	Babad, Michael and Catherine Mulroney (1989). Campeau: The Building of an Empire. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, p. 60.
↥2	Best, Patrick (1960). “Sewers Delay Campeau Permit.” Ottawa Citizen. June 8, 1960, p. 3.
↥3	“Apartment Permit Revoked.” Ottawa Citizen. June 22, 1960, p. 7.
↥4	Best, Patrick and Paul M. Dunn (1960). “Campeau Defies City Council.” Ottawa Citizen. June 20, 1960, p. 7.
↥5	Ibid.
↥6	Best, Patrick (1960). “Whitton ‘Scene’ At Campeau Site Draws Legal Suit.” Ottawa Citizen. June 23, 1960, p. 1.
↥7	Best, Patrick (1960). “Building Permit Legal.” Ottawa Citizen. June 25, 1960, p. 1.
↥8	Whitton, Charlotte (1960). “In Council Directing Or Directed?” Ottawa Citizen. June 29, 1960, p. 3.
↥9	Whitton, Charlotte (1960). “In Camera Or Cahoots?” Ottawa Citizen. August 15, 1960, p. 3.
↥10	Best, Patrick (1960). “City Inspector Gives Okay For Apartment.” Ottawa Citizen. October 5, 1960, p. 57.
↥11	Best, Patrick (1960). “Apartment Gets Okay From City Inspector.” Ottawa Citizen. October 7, 1960, p. 2.
↥12	Wilson, Phyllis and W.H. Arnott (1961). “Campeau Settles On 12 Storeys.” Ottawa Citizen. February 22, 1961, p. 1.
↥13	Ibid.
↥14	“Campeau Bid Rejected.” Ottawa Citizen. November 21, 1961, p. 1.
↥15	“Picket Lines At Apt. Jobs Are Orderly.” Ottawa Citizen. November 28, 1961, p. 19.
↥16	Babad & Mulroney (1989), p. 66.
↥17	Ibid.
↥18	“Injunction Continued Against Campeau Pickets.” Ottawa Citizen. January 17, 1962, p. 42.
↥19	Wilson, Phyllis and W.H. Arnott (1961). “Campeau Settles On 12 Storeys.” Ottawa Citizen. February 22, 1961, p. 1.
↥20	“Campeau gets go-ahead for penthouse addition.” Ottawa Citizen. July 15, 1963, p. 3.
↥21	Babad & Mulroney (1989), p. 100-1.
↥22	Campeau Construction (1963). “Champlain Towers – Sumptuous Penthouse Suites.” (Advertisement). Ottawa Citizen. December 14, 1963, p. 34.
↥23	Arnott, W.M. (1964). “City seeks extension of zoning bylaw.” Ottawa Citizen. February 19, 1964.
↥24	City of Ottawa v. Royal Trust Co. [1964] SCR 526, pp.526-7.
↥25	Ibid.
↥26	Ibid.
↥27	“Supreme Court upholds Ottawa’s high-rise tax.” Ottawa Citizen. May 11, 1964, pp. 1 and 3.
↥28	“Both dynamite, mayor explode at ceremony.” Ottawa Citizen. June 13, 1963, p. 5.
↥29	Campbell, Cathy (1983). “Campeau Corp. sells its interest in prestigious apartment building.” Ottawa Citizen. July 21, 1983, p. 49.

Brief: Roxborough Apartments

The Roxborough once stood proud at Laurier and Elgin. Source: Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Library and Archives Canada, PA-023247

Although Confederation Park is quite nice and a small oasis on a warm summer day (not to mention a central and convenient-to-me location), it came at a cost. In this case, one part of that cost was the loss of the Roxborough Apartments, once a well-loved presence at the corner of Elgin and Laurier but demolished to make way for the park. To boot, the home of Mackenzie King for more than a decade. I’m certainly not going to go over the fine work of others. The Midcentury Modernist gave the site a great look at part of his Mackenzie King Bridge series, Alexandre Laquerre painstakingly replicated the scene today, and Mike Steinhauer explored it as part of a piece on Ottawa’s “Grand Dame” apartments.

I’m really just here to put up the architectural drawings, done by H.C. Stone, that I recently came across on the LAC wesbite. I’d prefer that they were higher resolution, but I’ll take what I can get.

Source: LAC R13071-0-6-E, BAN 2009-00352-7

Brief: Luxurious Living in the Deep Cut

Normally, I try to have at least some kind of hook or interesting story. Unfortunately, I don’t have much information regarding The Fenham apartments on Park Avenue, near Cartier. Much like the Park Square Apartments at Elgin, the convenience of a Park Avenue reference was appreciated by the developer.

The Fenham was constructed in 1959, five years following the still-impressive-to-me Tiffany Apartments at Catherine and The Driveway. Immediately prior to The Fenham being erected, the existing home on the property was lived in by the Ogilvie family.

Brief: Civic Pharmacy – “Ottawa’s Answer to Genuine Shopping Pleasure”

That sign. That legendary sign. It has been a presence on the corner of Carling and Holland since 1960. Photo: April 2014.

Nearly 54 years ago, one of Ottawa’s best mid-century commercial signs was affixed to a newly-constructed two story commercial building at the corner of Carling and Holland – “the crossroads of the west end”. The Civic Pharmacy officially opened on Saturday, September 17, 1960.

A one-and-a-half-page spread in the Journal. Source: Ottawa Journal, September 16, 1960 — A one-and-a-half-page spread in the Journal. When it opened, the “Civic” sign’s letters apparently rotated. Source: Ottawa Journal, September 16, 1960, pp. 16-17.

The Civic Pharmacy was a venture of Wallace “Wally” Cherun, who’s father Alexander Cherun ran a grocery in the Deep Cut (now Golden Triangle) at 61 Waverley.

Brief: Kitchissippi United Church

Kitchissippi (formerly Kingsway) United Church. April 2014.

Now Kitchissippi United, this midcentury church began life as the Kingsway United Church. The congregation, which was mostly comprised of Parkdale United members, kicked off a fundraising campaign in November 1947. Fresh from his securing the runner-up slot in housing design competition in Atlanta, Ottawa architect Watson Balharrie was retained for the design.

The sod turning ceremony took place in July of 1948. Balharrie is pictured to the left. Source: Ottawa Journal, July 3, 1948.

A 1977 profile of Kingsway United. Source: Ottawa Journal, May 14, 1977.