More Friendless Women

Another Topley shot, this one thought to be c. 1916. The new Home for Friendless Women opened on September 30 1914, at 37 Turner St. (now 327 Cambridge between Gladstone and Arlington) in the City's south end, on land not previously built upon.

The accompanying article, published in the Ottawa Citizen the following day, raises a few interesting points —

• The Home was forced to move when the Federal Government took over its premises on Wellington, part of the razing of old Upper Town and the eventual creation of a ceremonial route / Parliamentary Precinct?
• That the opening was conducted by the wife of the then-Prime-Minister certainly framed the event as prestigious and implies federal patronage.
• Notice that the residents are referred to as "inmates." And remember that Ontario women didn't get the right to vote until the spring of 1917.
• There is specific mention a "most up-to-date laundry" — were the women still taking in washing? I notice what could be construed as a small loading dock at the side of the building.
• The religious tenor of the opening ceremony is unmistakable and continues in the latter part of the article, not included here. To what degree were these women wards of the church?

The building stands in good repair to this day and is now the Dukes of Cambridge Apartments.

Lady Laura (Bond) Borden and PM Sir Robert Boren, 1912

For more on the Magdalene model of Catholic "charity," do check this out.