Tag Archives: Ottawa

Eglise Unie Saint-Marc 142 Lewis St.

A 1874 datestone on a church that was built in 1900 is always a fun quirky thing to find. That place has to have a story.  One may assume, the datestone gives evidence that Saint Marc’s Church has been at this Elgin/Lewis street location since 1874. Saint Marc’s Church has been here in Ottawa, (The Daily Citizen, February 1886) but its physical location has moved during that time. The church was founded in Ottawa in by Rev. Marc Ami in 1872 and held services at the Young Men’s Christian Association and other halls until 1885 when they built their church (The Daily Citizen, February 1886) to serve the Francophone Presbyterian community at 656 Wellington in LeBreton Flats. 


The LeBreton Flats church was destroyed in the 1901 Ottawa/Hull fire (The Ottawa Citizen, October 1964) and was rebuilt in 1902. (The Ottawa Citizen, May 1954) The new church was could seat 250 people built in the Gothic Revival style of brick and stone with a cornerstone placed on June 21, 1901, which outlined in French the destruction and rebuilding of the church. (The Ottawa Journal, June 1901)

Image – Library and Archives Canada

https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=3816030&new=-8585513821113538419

Insurance plan of the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Volume 1, September 1902, revised 1912, Listed on 54 of 97, sheet 49. {address 656 Wellington, Lebreton Flats}, Anglicized? French Presbyterian Church, St. Mark (St. Marc)

Rebuilding after the fire Saint Marc’s served the Francophone community in LeBreton flats for 63 more years until the land the church owned was expropriated in 1964 (The Ottawa Citizen, October 1964). Front page news of the Government expropriation of the LeBreton Flats was announced in April 1962 giving owners only 2 years notice to vacate (the Ottawa Citizen, April 1962). While it was never realized, the intention of the expropriation was to build 10 government buildings in the area, with underground parking, and recreational and park areas to beautify the area (the Ottawa Citizen, April 1962). 240 owners were affected as the government removed the “eyesore” of “industrial plants, commercial buildings and low standard housing” (the Ottawa Citizen, April 1962). The land was not developed, and in 1969 the National Capital Commission was considering a reassessment of the LeBreton lands (The Ottawa Citizen, November 1969). Now 60 years later it consists of the War Museum, an apartment complex, (The Ottawa Citizen, April 2022) and the new Ottawa Public Library and, Library and Archives complex, Adisoke.

Saint Marc’s last service at the LeBreton Flats location was held on October 4, 1964 and the congregation was made up of 100 French-speaking families from all over the Ottawa area (The Ottawa Citizen, October 1964). The organ, pulpit, communion table, and other furnishings were to be removed before demolition to be placed in the new church when it was built (The Ottawa Citizen, October 1964). Their temporary church location from October (1964 until June 1965) was at Bank and McLeod  in the basement of the former McLeod Street United Church at 473 Bank Street (The Ottawa Citizen, October 1964).

Their current Elgin/Lewis street location was purchased In June 1965 (www.onland.ca, Register book 628), from the Unitarian Church of Our Father, who built their church in 1900 (The Ottawa Citizen, October 1900). Their congregation had outgrown their location and sold their building on Elgin to the Trustees of Eglise Marc, and de L’Eglise Unie du Canada for $147, 500 (www.onland.ca, Register book 628).

Currently the building is undergoing tower repairs. According to the church website Saint Marc’s “in partnership with Hare Consulting Group (an Indigenous-owned company), is set to launch a fundraising campaign to transform  St. Marc’s United Church on Elgin Street (a heritage-listed building) in Ottawa in a “state of the art” restoration project. The new space will house an Aboriginal Activity Center on the lower level of the church.”

Bronze in front of 140 O’Connor Street – The L’Esplanade Laurier Building

A piece by one of the world’s most renowned sculptors of the 20th century sits quietly on the street.

This one took a bit of digging. I couldn’t find a signature, mark or date on it. Google image search helped me discover that is a piece, which up until recently I called a statue in my head, is actually a sculpture, thanks for the clarification written by the Modern Sculpture Artists. The bronze sculpture is a part The Family of Man series by the renowned artist Barbara Hepworth created in the 1970s. Blogger Midcentry Modernist helpfully identified the sculpture and artist as well as posts a photo of the “family”

Ancestor I, was revealed to the public on Wednesday, May 19th, 1976 by Mayor Greenberg, and Hugh Poulin MP for the Ottawa Centre with curator Dr. Alan Wilkinsin of the Toronto Henry Moore Centre. The sculpture had been purchased by Olympia and York Developments for L’Esplanade Laurier and is one of the first major Barbara Hepburn pieces to be on permanent display outside in Canada. 

The reporter in the Ottawa Citizen concluded with “And after the epithets and piles of praise had been ceremoniously heaped upon it, they left it. To speak for itself.”

Ancestor I speaks, and I am glad to have finally heard it.

Solving my own Missing Building Mystery

Separate from my ongoing plaque hunts, since moving into the city from the suburbs, I have been looking for a particular funeral home because of its proximity to a nearby church. In retrospect, it was the event that really made me focus and wonder about my surroundings. In 1991 my grandfather died. I was 16 and this was my first introduction to death. My family lived on the outskirts of Ottawa before my city was incorporated as part of the megacity in 1999. I was overwhelmed by the capital, its many close streets and cars compared to where I grew up. A particular memory of that time I remember getting some air on the veranda of the funeral home with the sun setting in my eyes. But what really sealed the building in my memory was that we didn’t need a hearse to take my grandfather to the church, the pall-bearers carried him from there to the church across the street. I wondered if this was a standard thing (no it isn’t). There can’t be very many funeral homes where you can do that?

Retrospectively I was pretty sure this all happened in Centretown and I have been wandering around looking for this funeral home for my own genealogy purposes. I was sure that the building would be on the east side of the street to account for the setting sun in my eyes. Last Wednesday I realized I had walked all of the areas that I had thought it could be. This was a troubling thought, how could I have missed it when I am specifically looking for hidden and forgotten things? 

With my brand new newspapers.com subscription, I finally found his obituary which contained both the funeral home address, as well as the corresponding church. The church was the one I thought it was but I was somewhat confounded as to how I missed the funeral home as I had just been on that street. A repeating theme resonating with my obsession to document the location of plaques, you cannot find a building that isn’t there anymore. A google search on the address and I discover that it is now condo towers with a nice explanatory article by the ottawamagazine.com posted in 2011. 

McEvoy Shields Funeral Home, 245 Kent Street. Photo credit Ottawamagazine.com

I am relieved that I have found it now. One more mystery put to bed. For my genealogy research, I now know exactly which church I will be directing my next course of correspondence. 

Reference:

https://ottawamagazine.com/homes/from-the-print-edition-from-georgian-style-funeral-parlour-to-art-deco-condo-towers/ Then and Now: From Georgian-style funeral parlour to art deco condo towers. Posted October 4, 2011, accessed November 18, 2020.

Walking between Bronson Ave. and Kent St.

I took today off from work to go plaque-hunting. It was -7C in Ottawa this morning and about -3C when I started out. Plaques were not as bountiful as I had hoped, but when I did find them they were plenty. Bronson Centre, previously Immaculata High School, had four cornerstones, one plaque and an art piece. On the same building were two different cornerstones with differing dates. I bet there is a story there. And I am going to find out what it is.

I have to say this method of research is a healthy one. Today I did over 13000 steps. Most days during our pandemic reality I haven’t managed more than 2000 without extreme effort and/or planning. Clear and bright skies coupled with a rather walkable temperature made for an uncomplicated and enjoyable fall afternoon out.

Hollywood Parade

A friend of mine was viewing my new website and blog and mentioned that they had never heard of Hollywood Parade which was one of the photos I had taken and featured on the main page. I said that was exactly why I was determined to write about these lost bits of history. They are everywhere and often overlooked. 

The plaque for “Hollywood Parade” and its 1892 cornerstone is at 113 James Street (and Lyon) in Ottawa. It is a Designated Heritage property. I will follow up with another post as to what that means and entails. But at the moment it means it is a nice old place in the center of Ottawa. 

I had seen this almost 130 year-old property earlier on walks. The red brick detail on the rowhouse is eyecatching. I am not well versed in architecture but it is described as the “Romanesque Revival” style.  It was featured in the 1998 Citizen Homes section and I feel that this sort of detail and craftsmanship isn’t incorporated into our modern homes. James A. Corry was the architect, builder and one of the original inhabitants of the six-unit row house. The rather grandiose name and its history remain a secret although it has been suggested that it was selected in order to give it higher aspirations than what was considered common row housing to the upper classes. Bytowne museum has suggested that it is meant as holly wood, to indicate nature, as present-day developments such as Deer Fields, try to imply.

In 1892 James Corry ran for the Wellington Ward alderman position, where he describes himself as being a resident of the ward for a number of years “with considerable interest therein.”  He is found arguing in the paper for wooden sidewalks (and denied) on neighbouring Florence street. There is an Ottawa Journal article in 1903 referring to ex-alderman James A. Corry, as the owner of land purchased on Rideau street to build office buildings, as well as other Ottawa projects. He died at the age of 65 on December 17, 1923.

Feels like the first day with a new pair of feet.

As I crash around this new webpage publishing medium I feel incredibly clumsy and deeply thankful that someone automated the hardwork. This is the space I’ll be posting about my plaque-hunting adventures with more indepth context on specific items of historical significance that will be under the soon-to-be created “Short History Sunday” series to be uploaded in the new year. (2021)

I have always been interested in the small histories, ones that as a single instance rarely fill a whole book but those which have had an impact on individuals and their community. I have stopped the car and dragged my hapless kidlets off to look at a plaque on many a car trip. And sometimes, over time, those plaques have disappeared. At first I thought I just mistook the location but have discovered that they sometimes disappear because their original meaning has been forgotten, the place destroyed or the plaque fallen down forgotten and lost. The neighborhood that inspired me to write this book was in Hintonburg. In 2010 I saw a plaque that had fallen down and was propped up in a window. After initial inquiries, I failed to continue to think about the lost little plaque further until the Magee house partially collapsed in 2018. As it turns out there isn’t a large database of the location of every plaque, as each may be given by a different organization or level of government, and ongoing maintenance isn’t followed up upon.

I would like this book to be a useful walking guide to historians now and in the future, and indication of where items of note were located and at that same time creating a time capule for what was commemorated indicates what was considered important to us as a community.

I hope you enjoy finding out our local secret places. This is my map of Ward 14 in Ottawa that encompasses Little Italy, Chinatown, Sparks street, and Parliament Hill: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?mid=1Yt6tJaDfBwwCG9kDueModU9w-08pfOrz&usp=sharing

I am adding as I collect them. At the moment I have collected more than I have sat down to do the data entry for, but that is what the cold winter months are for aren’t they?