Alayne McGregor
Update: On January 16, the Built Heritage Committee approved the designation of The Bible House and the designation of the W.C. Edwards Building. It deferred the redesignation of the Ottawa Water Works until its meeting of February 13 to allow for a revised staff report and documentation.
City staff have recommended that two Centretown buildings be given the extra protection of provincial heritage status: the Bible House at 315 Lisgar near Bank, and the W.C. Edwards Building (the former home of the Orange Art Gallery) at 290 City Centre.
And, in order to meet current legislative requirements, they recommend that “heritage attributes” be added for the city Water Works complex in LeBreton Flats.
The heritage designations, under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, will be considered by the Built Heritage Committee on January 16 and by City Council on January 24. Designation under the Ontario Heritage Act makes it more difficult to demolish a building.
The buildings had to be evaluated under the new regulations for the provincial More Homes Built Faster Act (2022) aka Bill 23. That act has forced the city to expedite heritage applications: if City Council does not indicate its intention to designate these buildings by the end of 2024, they would be removed from the city’s Heritage Register, and would not be able to be re-listed in the register for another five years. Being on the register slows down the process of getting approval to demolish a building.
290 City Centre Avenue (W.C. Edwards Building)
According to the staff report, the W.C. Edwards building is “a representative example of a vernacular interpretation of the Spanish Colonial Revival style.” The building is historically linked to its surroundings as “it is one of the last remaining buildings in the area that is directly connected to the area’s railway era.” It is also “a rare example of architecture associated with the historic industrial character of the area. Its design is reflective of the importance of the lumber industry and the prominence of W.C. Edwards and Company at the time.”
The building is a “highly visible” landmark, and “informally marks the transition from West Centretown to Hintonburg, both of which historically straddled the former railways.”
The Orange Art Gallery occupied 290 City Centre for the last decade and had said it would stay open until the end of its lease on December 31. Its landlord had refused to renew.
315 Lisgar Street (The Bible House)
This 1922 building is “a representative example of an early 20th commercial building in Ottawa. … The building exhibits unique ecclesiastical influences in its leaded and stained-glass windows, stone window surrounds and decorative stone details. Its original design as a Bible House is evident in the transom window with ‘Bible House’ written in stained glass and the projecting decorative sign in the shape of a book that also says ‘Bible House,’ ” the city staff report says.
Originally owned and operated by the Ottawa Auxiliary Bible Society, the building’s purpose centred around printing and distributing religious books and pamphlets.
The Ottawa Water Works
This complex consists of the Water Works Building at 10 Fleet Street, the covered aqueduct, the open aqueduct to the west including the headworks, the channeled tailrace to the north of the pumping station, and five stone bridges that cross the aqueduct. The bridges include four single-span bridges; the Canada Central Railway, Broad Street, Booth Street, and the combined Lloyd/Lett/Grand Trunk Railway bridge, and the triple-span Pooley’s Bridge.
The complex originally received heritage designation in 1982 and 1995, but reasons weren’t given at the time.
Staff note that it has cultural heritage value for its role in the early development of municipal water works systems in Canada, its association with local engineer Thomas Coltrin Keefer, its design and physical value and its contextual value as a cultural heritage landscape and the only remaining historic structures on LeBreton Flats.
Pooley’s Bridge is the oldest bridge in Ottawa and it is considered the second oldest stone arch bridge in Ontario, the report says.