Robert Smythe
It looks like there’s finally some good news about Centretown’s longest running eyesore.
Construction has commenced at the ill-fated Somerset House, which has stood (barely) as a teetering ruin at Bank and Somerset Streets for some 17 years.
Surveyors were observed on site in the first week of April, and last week a big pile-driver moved in behind the construction fencing.
After a never ending and sometimes fractious dispute with the City of Ottawa, the owner is restoring the two remaining historic walls with an addition at the rear. The development will be a mixed-use building with two commercial stores on the ground floor with residential units above.
Last September, Ottawa City Council accepted the owner’s repair plan, with conditions including the implementation of heritage conservation measures, regular condition reports, city approval of exterior materials, and a city-authorized construction schedule.
The 125-year old structure is built in a somewhat Queen Anne Revival style. In its chequered history, it has been a hotel, an apartment building, a rooming house, a dry goods store, and a beer parlour.
The BUZZ will monitor the progress of the (re)construction.
