yes, THAT Shannon Tweed

 

Shannon Tweed, Miss Ottawa Valley, the Ottawa Journal, October 21 1977

"Shannon's" restaurant/bar and dance club opened at 321 Bank Street in late November 1977, just north of Barrymore's — photo by Lynn Ball for the Ottawa Citizen. The Citizen would later describe Shannon's as a "seedy little rock bar." The address had previously been home to the Victoria Dining Lounge ...

... and before that, a t-shirt shop.

After Shannon left Ottawa to pursue an acting and modelling career, the club became Hooper's Restaurant/Club and then Fanny's Cabaret (re-numbered as 317 Bank.) The building underwent major renovation in 1998 and reopened as the Babylon Nightclub*, with the Cue & Cushion billiard hall upstairs. It now hosts a Dollarama store. 

Ms Tweed would eventually marry Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS — the couple remain happily married to this day.

*don't get me started on Babylon. Really.

Garter Snakes in the the Spring

"The eastern gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) is highly variable in colour and patterning but tends to be dark green to black with three yellow stripes: one down the back and one on each side, on the second and third scale row. Some individuals have whitish chequered or speckled patterning along the back, and melanistic individuals (black back with no stripes) are very common in some regions (such as on Pelee Island). The eastern gartersnake has a yellowish chin and belly. This species typically reach 45 to 80 centimetres, but large females can grow to over a metre in length."

(source)

Photo taken in Hurdman Wood, April 2016.

36 First Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

 A 2½-storey brick-veneer-on-wood with a gambrel roof, a narrow house on a narrow lot, built some time between 1900(?) and 1912. As with the previous post, a renumbering of this part of First Avenue in the 1900s, combined with the lack of Directories from 1902 to 1907 make it difficult to pinpoint a build date or name a first occupant.

60 First Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

Intriguing. Also mysterious. Sixty on First appears on Goad's sheet 147, 1912, as a small brick-veneered 2½-storey wooden home, reaching halfway back on its 100-foot-deep lot. Goad indicates that the address was previously 40-something. Weren't we all?

I'm going to say early 1900s, occupied by ... someone.

Barely decipherable aerials suggest that house may have been extended backward to nearly the rear of the lot as early as the first half of the 20th century. The current high-quality stone veneer (and associated rebuilding?) must be at least 30 years old. The half-gambrel is either original, late-original, or sheer sass, I can't tell which. And if that's the original-original limestone foundation (sadly hiding behind some cars in this image), I am in quiet awe.

Realty sites describe #60 as a condo, suggesting more than one unit. This makes me wonder if projecting front bay is a stair-well. 

 

33 Argyle Avenue, Golden Triangle, Ottawa

This house was built in the early 1900s and was first advertised as a rental in the spring of 1903, when Argyle Ave was still called "Archibald," for the son of William Stewart, original owner of the property (part of "Stewarton", Lot F, Concessions C & D, Nepean Township.)

Do look at those rents, would you? They make me want to jump off the balcony of my $1,500/month studio apartment, only my apartment doesn't have a balcony.

Note the spelling of Catharine Street, with a second 'a' — the current spelling of Catherine was adopted, we are told, in 1913. Catharine Stewart was the wife of William.

I shot this photo as something of an experiment. I usually shoot in colour (on iPhone) then convert to B&W, trying to enhance the contrast in Photoshop. Here, I've shot with iPhone's "Noir" filter, which is contrasty to a fault, and then tried to rescue the mid-tones. I almost like the effect.

 

190 Cartier Street, Golden Triangle, Ottawa

 This brick 2½-storey has accrued a robust collection of sun-porches over the decades. Likely built c. 1904-1905, first occupied by Hubert D. Lyon, proprietor of the Ottawa Transfer Company.

31 Bower Street, Old Ottawa East

 The house appears on the 1928 aerials (green arrows) at a time when the Bower/Mutchmor neighbourhood was roughly half built up on what had lately been market-gardening lots. The likely first occupants were John and Edith Brown — he was a bookbinder at the Library of Parliament.

The (newer) Canadian Martyrs Catholic Church, Main Street, Old Ottawa East

The church, completed in 1953, was built to replace the original that had become too small for OOE's growing English Catholic parish. Details here. The sign in front of the church in the 1953 photo reads "Doran" — the building contractor.

232 Lisgar Street, Centretown, Ottawa

 Built 1887-1888, first occupied by "Oxley James M, clerk Department Marine."

198 O'Connor Street — the Kitchener Apartments — Centretown, Ottawa

If the Kitchener looks like it was shoe-horned into its lot, that's because it was. The space was previously occupied by a 2½-storey house in the style of its neighbours to either side. The apartment block was built c. 1914 and first appears, fully tenanted, in the 1915 City Directory.

The building was named for Lord Kitchener, about whom you can read here — yes, this Lord Kitchener. 

245-251 Nepean Street — "Quinn's Row" — Centretown, Ottawa

"Built around 1889, this four-unit terrace at 245-251 Nepean Street (near Kent Street) is the sole surviving intact 19th-century multiple wooden dwelling in Centretown. By the 1870s, there were many similar row-houses built for labourers, many who were engaged in the construction of Saint Patrick’s Basilica nearby.

A modest, 2 1/2 storey row house, it features balanced and asymmetrical window and door openings and is covered in milled clapboard, with wide plank pine flooring in the interior. All four entrances are enlivened with a simple bracketed gabled portico.

The terrace was built for Patrick Quinn, a local contractor and Centretown landlord who was an active member of Saint Patrick’s Parish and took a prominent part in the erection of Saint Patrick’s Basilica on Kent Street."

— Heritage Ottawa

 

Quinn's Row (red arrows) as it appears on Goad's sheet 38, 1888.

29 Strathcona Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

 They don't get much cozier than this. #29 was built circa 1900, when Strathcona was still Hickey, then-named for the family of landowners who market-gardened the northern edge of the Glebe in the late 1800s. The first occupant was Alvin Mitchell, a bricklayer.

59 Strathcona Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

 This house on the NE corner of Strathcona and Metcalfe was built some time between 1909 and 1912. The first occupant was John T. Hodgkins, who had previously lived at nearby #53, when the street was still called "Hickey."

The Palladian window on the gable, a millennium motif, is not likely part of the original design. though it does offer pleasing visual balance,

220 Queen Elizabeth Driveway, the Glebe, Ottawa

 Originally numbered 574 Elgin, this house was built some time between 1901 and 1908, and was first occupied by John Hope, son of James Hope of James Hope & Sons, printers and stationers on Sparks Street. I'm sure that dormer window isn't the original — a bit of a honker, I'd say.

216-218 Queen Elizabeth Driveway, the Glebe, Ottawa

This double, with second-floor recessed balconies, was built some time between 1901 and 1908, originally numbered 570-572 Elgin. The parapet, a simple touch, lifts the design upward with a distinct classical oompf.

le teak, c'était chic en soixante-dix

 This from the Ottawa Citizen, March 19 1970 —

"Genuine teak furniture is the choice for young moderns for today's hi-rise apartments. Perfectly at home in lower level apartments ... exciting in spacious top floor suites! Come in today! See our selection!"

Teak is derived from a tropical hardwood (Tectona grandis L.f.) of the Lamiaceae (Mint Family) native to Southeast Asia. Teak's high natural oil content and density allows craftsmen to build slim, lightweight furniture of striking durability. Teak furniture, especially of Scandinavian (Danish and Norwegian) design, was a signature feature of mid-century modern (MCM) interior design from the 1950s into the 1970s.

Scandia — The most literal and famous use of the word in mid-century furniture is the Scandia chair series, designed by the Norwegian Hans Brattrud in 1957 as a student project at the National College of Art & Design in Oslo.

Manufactured by Hove Møbler in the 1960s, the chair was a technological and artistic breakthrough. Brattrud used a revolutionary technique of high-frequency lamination to shape two-dimensional wooden slats into a curved, three-dimensional form that cradled the body. Favoured materials were teak, rosewood and walnut.

In a more general sense, "Scandia" would become a marketing term for Scandinavian-inspired furniture.

Arborite — A Canadian brand-name decorative laminate used on cabinetry, tabletops and countertops, established shortly after WWII and still in production and wide use today. It consists of multiple sheets of Kraft paper, impregnated with melamine resin (a thermosetting plastic) and bonded under heat and pressure. The original process was developed by Westinghouse in 1912 and marketed as "Formica."

Colonial Furniture was, of course Ottawa's premier furniture retailer, founded in 1933 by Max and Sam Cohen, with their showroom at 403 Bank Street (now the site of Staples/ Business Depot.) That flagship location closed in the winter of 1998-1999.

2 Graham Avenue, Old Ottawa East

One of only two homes on the south side of Graham, the rest of the block is given over to schools and church-related stuff. #2 sits on the SE corner of Graham and Echo Drive. The land seems to have served as market-garden acreage in the old-timey day, owned by or otherwise associated with one James Graham, hence the name of the road.

By 1928, aerial photos portray the area as so much waste ground. By 1956 both aerials and insurance plans show a single-storey bungalow of sorts, longish, with a side-gabled pitched roof, possible garage on the east side of the house. See plan below, #3 coloured in green, labeled "1 CBLK" for cinder-block construction. 

Upper storey(s) were added some time between 1965 and 1991 (aerials again), while further distinctly Millennial adornments date to between 1991 and 2002.

The Victorian-style decorative treatment of the street-facing gables on the upper storeys is sweet as hell, and as for the ostentatious oculus, hey, you only live once or twice.

53 Adelaide Street, the Glebe, Ottawa

 53 Adelaide was built circa 1912, at the south end of the street, on the east side. It began life as one of the humblest structures you might hope to find in the Glebe — flat-roofed and wooden, 2 storeys up front dropping to a single storey in the rear, the latter presumably housing the kitchen. Barely more than a shack, its first occupant was Alfred Gravelle, a bartender.

The original configuration appears on Goad's sheet 151, 1912 (red arrows.)

This is not the building we see today.

On close examination, the brick veneer looks suspiciously modern — "work" has been done. Aerial photos give us an idea of how the house grew — no later that 1928, the rear had been raised to a full two storeys, and some time between 1965 and 1976, a pitched roof was added, creating another half storey.

334 Queen Elizabeth Driveway, the Glebe, Ottawa

 The vacant lot was purchased in August 1927 by Richard A. Whitney, the house was built through 1928 and occupied no later than October of that year (ads for domestic help.)

The house is usually described as "Spanish Revival" or "Spanish-influenced Georgian" and is sometimes called the Whitney House — apparently a duplex, though how that actually works I'm not sure. The facade we see here, fronting onto Third Avenue, features the sort of broken massing and terracotta roof tiles one expects of Spanish revival styles, while behind it, a starkly modern, bunker-like concrete block serves as a backdrop. Both sections of the house appear as faits accomplis in the 1928 aerial photos.

The pattern of cracks in the stucco finish suggest cinder-block construction.

As to Mr. Whitney, his Ottawa Citizen obituary of January 19, 1943 sums his life up nicely.
 

41 Holmwood Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

 City Directories suggest a build-date between 1901 and 1908, although this might not be the original house — Goad 1912 shows a 2½-storey wooden home, this is a 1½. It sits at a slight angle to Holmwood, explaining why the front steps seem to skew to the viewer's left.

43 Holmwood Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

The present house at 43 Holmwood was built some time between 2008 and 2011 per aerial photos, Andrew Reeves architect. It replaces a narrow, wooden, 1½-storey front-gabled house built shortly before 1912. The curiously angled single (!) garage reflects the geometry of the lot, itself a parallelogram set on an angle to the curb.

101 Holmwood Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

Built some time between 1909 and 1912, first home to Alexander Thurston, an accountant with Fotheringham & Popham, printers and stationers on Sparks Street and later Queen. 

Holmwood Avenue was originally called Centre Street — it would be renamed in 1926. There was rather a plethora of "Centres" back in the day — this from the 1912 City Directory ...

81 Holmwood Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

Built after 1933, probably post-war, first newspaper mention from the Ottawa Citizen, 1947-04-24.

Lansdowne Park, circa 1912

The Goad Plans for 1912 devote a sheet specifically to the "Central Canada Exhibition Grounds" — Landowne Park. Things have been moved around quite a bit over the last century, though the racetrack/now-stadium has stayed put.

Although the sheet is dated June 1912 ("revised"), the north stand of the stadium bears an earlier notation — "Grand Stand Reinforced Concrete & Steel Construction, Exhibits & Dining Room Under Constn. Dec. 1909."

85 Holmwood Avenue, the Glebe, Ottawa

 Built some time between 1933 and 1958 — a want-ad for a maid, placed in November of 1951, hints at a postwar construction date.

85 Holmwood (originally Centre) is highlighted in blue on Goad's 1912 insurance plan. Two houses would replace the stables shown to the immediate right. Mary Street, on the eastern edge of the plan, is now the south end of O'Connor.

In 1868, the first agricultural fair was held on the land south of Holmwood, then simply called the exhibition grounds. In 1890, the grounds were renamed Lansdowne Park, honouring the Marquess of Lansdowne, who served as Canada's Governor General from 1883 to 1888.

328 Frank Street, Centretown Ottawa

 This is the rear view (from Gladstone, east of O'Connor) of an otherwise beautiful building. Built c. 1904-'05, home to Mr. Chauncey Bangs and family. Bangs was a coal dealer, offices at 17 Elgin. I have a nice view of the front, in some folder, somewhere, which I'll try to track down.

Doric Columns on Elgin Street, Ottawa

The Queen Mary Apartments, at 413 Elgin, were built in 1913 on a previously vacant lot, in the year prior to Canada's entry into WWI. The ad reproduced here appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on February 25 1914 — we would officially engage the Hun on August 4 of that year.

"Queen Mary" refers to Mary of Teck, wife of King George V. Both George and Mary were much loved by Canadians, especially by Ottawans who fondly remembered the couple's Royal Visit to our city in 1901 when, as the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, they proved themselves to be decent human beings and good sports, graced with kindness, respect and an actual shared sense of humour — this in sharp contrast to Victoria's dark, distant demeanour.

As to the columns, Doric. And note that the lowest one, front and centre (of my photo) seems poised to fail outward.

340-342 Metcalfe Street — Metcalfe Terrace, Centretown Ottawa

 There was a time when Metcalfe Street was more of a prestigious address than it is today. Early in the 20th century, the section between Somerset West up to Sparks was dense with the "surgeries" of doctors and dentists, making it Ottawa's version of Harley Street.

Some five blocks to the south, in the summer of 1939, on a previously vacant lot, construction of the twin Metcalfe Terrace Apartments was nearing completion. Occupancy was anticipated in the fall. The announcement below appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on August 28 of that year. Twelve days later, on September 10, Canada would enter WWII.