Alta Vista Shopping Centre (1956)

Pinned up. A small print of a sketch of the Alta Vista Shopping Centre. Source: City of Ottawa Archives CA0360360.
Pinned up. A small print of a sketch of the Alta Vista Shopping Centre. Source: City of Ottawa Archives CA0360360.

When I wrote about the Alta Vista Shopping Centre a few weeks back, I did not have access to a clear(er) version of the sketch run in the Ottawa Journal. Now that I have located one, I’d like to share it. There’s something about the fantasy world of midcentury architectural sketches I love.

The Alta Vista Drive Apartments and the Alta Vista Shopping Centre (1956)

Reuben Palef's Alta Vista Drive Apartments, 2015. Image: Google Maps.
Reuben Palef’s Alta Vista Drive Apartments, 2015. Image: Google Maps.

I’ve been on a roll lately when it comes to the cluster apartments developments of the 1950s. Since 1965 is my next stop in the apartment list transcription project, it’s most likely going to be the case that what catches my attention in that year will not be the clusters that defined the 1950s. To that end, much like I have done with Doug O’Connell’s Westwood Park, I’ve decided to select a few of these developments that were completed after 1955. In this case, I’ve looked back eastward, towards Alta Vista’s Riverview Park neighbourhood.

Continue reading The Alta Vista Drive Apartments and the Alta Vista Shopping Centre (1956)

Ottawa’s Apartments, 1955

J.R. Beach's 1950 apartment at 196 Metcalfe. Image: June 2016.
J.R. Beach’s 1950 Beach Apartments (now Algonquin Annex) at 196 Metcalfe. Image: June 2016.

Back in March, I transcribed the list of apartment buildings from the 1945 Might’s Directory of the City of Ottawa and ran some minor analysis of the proportion of apartment buildings in each of Ottawa’s neighbourhoods. I decided to jump ahead to 1955, as a massive transition in the Canadian housing market was well underway.

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