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.

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 - Aberdeen Pavilion

    50. Aberdeen Pavilion

    Built in 1898 at Lansdowne Park for the Central Canada Exhibition Association (CCEA), the Aberdeen Pavilion captured the serious purpose of 19th-century agricultural fairs while evoking the…

  • 49. The Judicial Triad

    The federal government’s official Long Term Vision and Plan for Ottawa’s Parliamentary and Judicial Precincts—dating back to 1920—has consistently earmarked…
     

  • 48. Somerset House

    Somerset House anchors the southeast corner of Bank Street and Somerset Street West. Its construction is attributed to contractor Thomas Clarey, who…

  • Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - Stephen Collins House

    47. Stephen Collins House

    This historic stone cottage was built circa 1830 by Thomas Moodie, a stonemason working on the construction of the Rideau Canal. It served as the Paymasters’ house before United Empire Loyalist …

  • 46. Watson's Mill and Dickinson House

    Watson’s Mill, Dickinson House and the Carriage Shed form the core of Dickinson Square, an enclave of heritage buildings in the historic centre of Manotick…

  • Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - Lisgar Collegiate Institute

    45. Lisgar Collegiate Institute

    Lisgar Collegiate Institute was Ottawa's first purpose-built public secondary school.  Dalhousie District Grammar School / Carleton County Grammar School (Lisgar’s predecessor) had occupied …

  • Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - Horticulture Building

    44. Horticulture Building

    Located in Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park, the Horticulture Building was erected over nine weeks in 1914 to serve as a venue for the Central Canada Exhibition’s annual…

  • Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - Wallis House

    43. Wallis House

    In 1873, the Carleton County General Protestant Hospital commissioned architect Robert Surtees (1835-1906), who later became Ottawa's City Engineer, to design a new hospital at 589 Rideau Street…

  • Heritage Ottawa 50 Years | 50 Stories - Charles Ogilvy Limited Department Store

    42. Charles Ogilvy Limited Department Store

    Charles Ogilvy (1861-1950) was a Scottish immigrant who opened a dry goods business in 1887 at 92 Rideau Street. Founded on the motto “Good Merchandise, At a Fair Price. With Service.” the store quickly…

  • 41. Monastery of the Visitation of Holy Mary

    In 1910, the Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary, a cloistered order of nuns founded in Annecy, France in 1610, purchased a 5.2 acre estate at 114 Richmond Road in Ottawa West.  While awaiting completion…

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