As it looms over Jack Purcell Park1I really don’t care that the racquet art was inspired by the wrong Jack Purcell., the Governor Metcalfe Apartments at 330 Metcalfe has been witness to a considerable number of changes that have taken place in its front yard, including the construction of the park itself in 1967 and its popular dog run in 2011. Continue reading Update! The Governor Metcalfe (1959)
Notes
| ↥1 | I really don’t care that the racquet art was inspired by the wrong Jack Purcell. |
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“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” At least, so the popular saying goes. The market for apartment buildings in the early 1960s was hot. Really hot. It was during this time that such large builders like Mastercraft, Assaly, Minto, and numerous others started looking upwards as much as they were outward into the greenfield development they had been through the 1950s. The action wasn’t limited to the larger players, however.
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.
By the late 1920s, if you were to press an Ottawan to name a builder of apartments, there is a good chance they would name Wolf Shenkman. Shenkman arrived in Ottawa in 1904 and quickly began to buy and sell investment properties as well as construct homes. His first apartment building was completed in 1911.1Well, appears to be have been completed in 1911. The first instance of him being associated with apartment construction in the Contract Record is located in the April 5, 1911 edition. It is at the corner of Stewart and Cumberland in Sandy Hill, but have not verified this. See: “Residences,” Contract Record, Vol. 25, No. 14, p. 56.
Notes
| ↥1 | Well, appears to be have been completed in 1911. The first instance of him being associated with apartment construction in the Contract Record is located in the April 5, 1911 edition. It is at the corner of Stewart and Cumberland in Sandy Hill, but have not verified this. See: “Residences,” Contract Record, Vol. 25, No. 14, p. 56. |
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If you’ve run into me lately, you were doubtlessly entreated to some words about apartment buildings in Ottawa. I can’t help it, the topic has been rolling around in my mind for a decade or so.
I was walking back home from campus the other day and these brightly-coloured homes (90-98 Flora) caught my eye. As is so often the case, beauty results from conflict and limitation, rather than from whole-cloth design.
Centretown’s buildings have a number of stories to tell. Some of those stories are tragic, some are tales of faded business glory, and others still are tales of the night life that once kept Ottawa hopping. Still waters run deep, as the saying goes. As is the case with so many of the apartments that Centretowners call home, the Franconna Apartments began life as large single-family home. After playing host to a number of elites in its first twenty years, it was converted into an apartment (named Belgrave Terrace): a common fate that befell these homes once they hit a certain age. Backing on to Gladstone Avenue, the apartment was then threatened with the potential for demolition when the city sought to widen what was then a 30 foot side-street to a four-lane traffic corridor. While the rear annex bears the scars of the widening, that half of it still stands is a testament to the sorts of pressure faced by planners during the middle of the twentieth century.
Continue reading A (Bel)grave Situation (Belgrave Terrace or the Franconna Apartments, 1925)
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.
Notes
| ↥1 | It’s worth noting that the building was originally designed with two floors. The third was added following the initial design. |
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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
Notes
| ↥1 | M.A. Seymour’s “Ottawa Land Enquiry” (1953). |
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About a year ago, when I wrote about the tragic experience of Ottawa’s Miss Harmon, I intended to continue and write about the subsequent development of this busy corner of Centretown. As it would turn out, the use of 171 MacLaren for educational purposes did not end with Miss Harmon’s suicide.
Continue reading Sugarman & Diamond commission a Toast to Miss Harmon
You may remember last fall when I wrote about the early beginnings of the Mayflower Restaurant at the south east corner of Elgin and Cooper streets. A legendary place of local communion in its own right, the Mayflower served its last in October and closed. Over the ensuing winter and spring, behind hoarding, the storied diner and pub (along with the neighbouring tailor) were transformed into Deacon Brodie’s pub.
Continue reading Marvin of Troy (Marvin Chodikoff and the Construction of the Mark Building, 1959)