by Robert Smythe
Heritage Ottawa has launched its latest publication, From Walk-Up to High-Rise: Ottawa’s Historic Apartments (80pp. $20), a detailed, illustrated guide to the history of apartment development in Centretown, Sandy Hill and Lowertown.
The book spans 75 years of apartment building from the first examples, constructed shortly after 1900, to the towers of the 60s and 70s.
Apartments have been a significant factor in the growth of Centretown. In the early years, they were met with suspicion, with the wealthiest streets trying to enact restrictive zoning by-laws to keep them out. Despite this, they grew in size and number during intermittent building booms that produced many landmark buildings. Here’s a sampling of some of the Centretown apartments that appear in the book.
The Mayfair was built in 1936 and designed by Hugh Richards and William Abra. As the promoters said, “Opening the door of an apartment-home in The Mayfair you are ushered into life that holds a new beauty—a new grace, and charm. Unsurpassed in plan and perfection of detail, your apartment is ingeniously designed to give the greatest degree of hominess with the best possibilities for fine decorating. In physical equipment, construction detail and appointments, The Mayfair apartment-homes combine the ultimate in modernity with the utmost in conventional comfort. Here you will enjoy the unique service of uniformed doormen, maid service, garage attendants and individual trade entrances.” (Advertisement, September 9, 1936)
The Duncannon, built in 1931 and designed by Cecil Burgess, was “For connoisseurs in the art of fine living. 216 Metcalfe Street is without doubt the finest apartment now available for rent on this street of fine homes. A new four-storey building with an exterior of commanding distinction, its interiors have been carefully designed to afford unusual decorative possibilities. High ceilings, spacious rooms and fine craftsmanship combine with every modern convenience to make these charming apartments unique in the city. Door service, elevator service, garage accommodation, add to the comfort and convenience of the discriminating who will appreciate the unobtrusive perfection of these luxurious apartments.’ (Advertisement, August 22, 1931)
The Blackburn (1936, Lucien Leblanc, architect) was “an imposing structure six storeys high of buff brick and stone ornamentation. A garage large enough to house 30 automobiles has been arranged with a particularly convenient entrance and exit.” The building’s atrium-style lobby, “The Rotunda” was “most attractive with its finish in the Greek style, with an elevator service to each floor. Iron grilles finish the galleries on each floor around the rotunda which will be centred by a beautiful fountain. Perhaps unique in Ottawa is the roof garden that has been added to this fine apartment, which embodies many of the newest ideas in apartment house construction and arrangement to be found on this continent and in Europe.” (Advertisement,October 2, 1936)
The Shefford is the last surviving example of the “grandes dames” pre-WWI apartments, signifying the apartment building’s arrival as a respectable address. Designed by the architects Horwood, Taylor & Horwood it was built for income by the J. R. Booth family in 1912. The Shefford was a hybrid of early and modern building technology, combining some steel and reinforced concrete with ultra-thick brick walls. The kitchens, then using coal-burning cooking ranges and non-electric ice boxes were serviced by an ingenious dumbwaiter system to bring up the fuel and ice blocks.
The Russell Apartments at 255 Metcalfe Street was Ottawa’s first tall apartment to be built after WWII. It was designed in 1948 by the prolific apartment house architect J. Morris Woolfson. Constructed on unstable Leda clay, it was the first to employ a fully engineered “floating raft” foundation—a reinforced concrete mat that distributed the weight of the heavy building and prevented uneven settling.
The book is available at Books on Beechwood, Black Squirrel Books on Bank Street, and for on-line purchase at www.heritageottawa.org – shipping is free.
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Robert Smythe is one of the contributors to From Walk-Up to High-Rise: Ottawa’s Historic Apartments.