publications

50 Years | 50 Stories

Ontario 150

In celebration of our 50th anniversary in 2017, Heritage Ottawa created our popular online series entitled 50 Years | 50 Stories. Entries are updated regularly as new interventions arise. 

This valuable resource shares the illustrated stories of 50 buildings that Heritage Ottawa helped to save and preserve over the course of our first 50 years of advocating for our city's heritage structures.  Read about the architectural and historical significance of these important places, the threats they faced, and the people who mobilized to save them.  A few stories are about buildings lost along the way—making our appreciation for the successes even greater.  Many thanks to Heritage Ottawa member and architectural historian Ken Elder for the considerable hours of research he devoted to this project.

All 50 stories are also published in French. Vous pouvez les lire ici.

Heritage Ottawa gratefully acknowledges the support of Ontario150 for this project.

Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - Nicholas-Waller-Laurier Triangle
40. Nicholas-Waller-Laurier Triangle
Bounded by Nicholas and Waller streets and Laurier Avenue East, the triangular parcel of land known as the Nicholas-Waller-Laurier Triangle was considered a gateway into…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories -  The Daly Building
39. The Daly Building
The Daly Building, as it is best known, was located on the north side of Rideau Street between Mackenzie Avenue and Sussex Drive. The original four storey department store was built…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories -  St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church
38. St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church
The first church built to serve Catholic families in the former township of March was a modest cedar log chapel, erected in 1836 on the John Lahey farm bordering March Road. By 1884…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - 171-173 Bolton Street
37. Double House at 171 - 173 Bolton Street
Located in the north-west section of Lowertown between Dalhousie and Cumberland streets, the double-house at 171-173 Bolton Street was built prior to 1861 when Lowertown was a predominatly working class…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories -  Woolworth and Kresge Buildings
36. The Woolworth and Kresge Buildings
In December 1928, the S.S. Kresge Co. of New York purchased the buildings from 172 to 182 Sparks Street from Famous Players Canadian Corporation, whose plan to build a movie theatre had failed…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - Robert Nicholas Slater House
35. Robert Nicholas Slater House
Located adjacent to Christ Church Cathedral, the Robert Nicholas Slater House was among the eight buildings that formed the Cathedral Hill Heritage Conservation District when it was created in 1989…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - E.B. Eddy Digester Tower
34. E.B. Eddy Digester Tower
The E.B. Eddy Digester Tower is a prominent reminder of the Ottawa Valley's early industrial roots.  Ezra Butler Eddy (1827-1906), incorporated the E.B. Eddy Manufacturing Company in Hull…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - Garden of the Provinces
33. Garden of the Provinces and Territories
The Garden of the Provinces and Territories is one of Canada’s foremost Modernist landscapes. Proposed in the Gréber Plan of 1950 and designed in 1960 by landscape architect Donald W. Graham…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories -  École Guigues | Guigues School
32. Guigues School | Centre de services Guigues
Named for Monsignor Joseph-Eugène-Bruno Guigues, Ottawa’s first Roman Catholic bishop, Guigues School was built in 1904 to accommodate 100 boys. The building was designed by…
Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories -  Archbishop's Palace
31. Archbishop's Palace
The Archbishop’s Palace (known as the Bishop’s Palace until 1886) was built between 1849 and 1850 during the same period as Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica and the College of Bytown on Sussex …