The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 39

I -y in WT. iroi I 'fit 'V -t vs i NOW A RESIDENCE FOB ELDERLY PEOPLE, this imposing struc ture on Bank Street was built as a pnvate home in 1872. 1 The Ottawa If 1 i i demon Saturday, June 21, 1969 1 1 I I1 Avenue have been of jji-Ht I' i If i i I I ill -J good service to owner-occupants for more than 50 rr i I t. i 1.1 J'- aAA.44vAViSi 4. A SENSE OF TIME AND SPACE are evident in this handsome home built in an earlier era on Brown's Inlet in the -tr vhT a kit II ROW HOUSING OF PRE-WORLD WAR I DAYS is given a hand-', some setting by National Capital Commission's well-kept lawns on the Driveway.

4AA.itlA Suburbia is an old idea. Elgin Street. The Queensway Rosedale. Westmount, Eng- now uses this early- traffic lish' Bay, Grand: very names recall an era be- Two other institutions were fore the First World War. also established in the Glebe In.

those suburban develop- at that time: -the Central Can- ments of an earlier age. sub- ada Exhibition buildings stantial singre family houses were built that are still in good use and in good repair. half-a-century later. An appreciation -of ftirne and leisure' are reflected in their Spacious lawns and carriage drives reflect the values of sound community' planning in those when the wasi still a novelty. These -values are reflected today In an area in the, cen-, (re of Ottawa that, due to the accidents of local history end still stands as a civic, entity although now sur- rounded on.

all sides by the infinities of a rapidly grow- 1 ing. Sy south streets, Bank and -k -k 'ElgiDj'. the.GleM to THE "GLEBE1 as is velop'' as a suburbah corn- known, was originally and. perhaps, not unexpectedly a Clergy Reserve, deeded the Crown in 1837 to St Andrew's Presbyterian Church. This area of 178 acres had as its boundaries Carling Avenue and Fifth Avenue on the north and south sides and Main.

Street and. Branson Avenue as. the eastern and western limits. the Glebe is a somewhat larger area, bounded by the Queensway on. the north side, by the RIdeau Canal on the east and south, -and with Bronson Avenue still serving as a western The growth of the Glebe is an Ottawa story, but one that has distinct echoes in the histories of 'other Canadian cities.

It began when the tracks for the new street-railway were laid. On a day in June in 1891, the first electric street car set off, bell clanging, down Bank Street tor the Exhibi-' opened at Lansdowne Park'. in 1888 and the Manufac- turers Building, which is still "standing a a lively example of the architecture of the, period. For, the sporting fra- ternity there were the races' at' Mutchmor Park. The original city limits on the' south side had been set, at Gladstone Avenue, when the city was incorporated.

Annexation in 1889 extended the new limits to the Canal. By Act of the Provincial Legislature, the became part of a small but growing WITH RAPID TRANSIT as- sured on two" jnain north' building of the Drive- way from Elgin Street and Laurier Avenue over the now-familiar, route to the Experimental Farm, between 1900 and, 1903, gave added impetus to city growth on- the south side. As part of this program 1 and Monkland Avenues were laid out; Clemow Avenue was paved west from Bank Street. At about the same time, 1903-1904, a large low lying area between Second and Third Avenues was filled in with sand taken from the land along Carling Avenue. avenues from First to Fifth, east of Bank Street, no.

specific architectural' style is. evident The original houses, which were largely built before 1914. ran from' simple frame houses to an extended use of for both work and On the long blocks, west of Bank Street, growth was slower. In these formative years housing did not extend much beyond Kent Street. Between Powell 1 and Carling Avenues a transforms- tion gradually took place.

A series of distinctive homes. both east and west of Bank Street, -were indicative of style ind wealth of the own- An address i In this part of the Glebe showed that the owner had property or posi- tion, probably -both. THE OTTAWA Improvement Commission, the forerunner of the present NCC, beautified the area With special attention to trees and shrubs, street light- tion Grounds at Lansdowne row housing and walk-up Park on the edge of the' city. apartment blocks of no par- The street eventually "ticular distinction in design, drew the whole city out the.re This pattern of conven-with the prospect of fast tiohal housing, was frequently transportation -and land, broken up by the construe-, awaiting development. tion of substantial houses on Some pioneers In fact, were large lots, set well back from already well-established there the lot line, and with an exvr in that summer of long ago." panse 'of front Or side yard IN 1871 James Whyte, one of the leading merchants of the town, built a large residence on the Canal Road on the north side.

of the water-' way at midpoint between what is now Bank Street and Bronson 1 Avenue. The Basilian Fathers are the ciir- rent occupants. One year later John mor moved Into his handsome new home on Bank Street near, Hoi mwood Avenue. This building still serves the' com- munlty as a residence for older people. In 1882 the development of t'lis southern section of the city was further encouraged by the building of the new Canada-Atlantic Railway ter-' minal on the west side of the RIdeau Canal at the end of In tfie Glebe, a Toiich a.sitAt tttttiittt a a A 4 f.

s. A A a. it "li of Tranquility in the ing, and the creation of Cen-' tral Park, a green area that is still a community attraction. -Careful preservation of the entire neighborhood by. the NCC, the City! Planning and Department, and by the present-day owners, still brings style and standard of living to the heart of.

the city, now frequently absent In large metropolitan areas. Elsewhere- in the house construction was un- planned; and. haphazard. Housing- standards lower, and 50 years later small pockets of blight show the -results of an erratic growth and development in part of the community. Fortunately, these blighted so obvious after the 1939-1945 have now largely been removed or re- habilitated, so that, generally speaking, the Glebe today possesses housing stock suitable for both upper and middle income groups.

As housing went up on the avenues, a thin line of stores and other commercial properties began to appear on Bank Street. The corner store was also well-established at an early date. Many of these institutions are stili in business. Modern merchandising methods long ago replaced the picket barrel, but friendly informality is still evident, a neighborly change from the -impersonality of super-markets on the main streets. -tf.

THE DEVELOPMENT- of the Glebe can Lso be traced in the old records of the" first schools and churches built in the district -v- a First Avenue' Public School opened its doors In 1898 at Pliotosiory by fr- i fji a Jr CAREFULLY MAINTAINED HOUSES like these are to be found in many parts of the Glebe. Painting and renovation has enhanced their value over the icJi a a. a a a a A A.a Very Heart of Ottawa SmiltoTinjTJJD about the same' time as St Matthew's Anglican Church then a small frame structure. Mutchmor Public School on Fifth Avenue was also built in- the nineties with additions in 1911 and 1920 as bousing density' increased and new families-moved into the The separate school. Corpus also dates this early era.

c- Roman Catholic families attended Mass for some years' to a temporary chapel on the south side of Fourth Avenue near Percy Street Blessed Sacrament Parish, as it was was formed in 1913. The church itself came 19 years i 0 Methodist Congregation worshipped foriginally in More land's Hall, on Bank Street but in 1913 Glebe Methodist Church was organ-' ized. A new name was chosen "at the time of church union In the 1920s. It is as St James United Church that it is now on Second Avenue. WITH THE PASSING of time, the need for a local col-legiate institute became inevitable.

Glebe Collegiate under Principal McDougall opened in 1922, the last word in secondary, school education. The adjoining High School of Commerce, opening in 1929, was a further refinement. The two buildings were considered as second to none In the province. The original high standards are still maintained. Ottawa Ladies' on First Avenue Is also well remembered.

From 1914 to 1942 this private school specialised in the education of young Eric Minion a h. a a a a a. a women. Army khaki predominated during the Second World War years. Later as" Carleton College the premises played a vital part in the establishment of the new; post-war Carleton Schools however closed on Friday afternoon.

A whole -generation thought Friday night or 'Saturday afternoon best spent at the. AvaW Theatre. Tna apacioua cinema open-i ed In 1928 at the corner of Bank Street and Second Avenue, an imposing building distantly related in color and design to the architecture of Spain, and later Florida. But in an age before television, and radio for many people, style was as the silent screen brought thrills of the "western," or the laughter of the great comedians, to a happily un- sophisticated audience. THE CITY, in 1U expansion, has long since rushed past the Glebe.

Side yards and vacant, lots, disappeared in th final stages of deveK opment after 1945 when postwar housing filled in the re- maining acres, particularly, on those streets just off Bron-, son Avenue where house construction had declined in the' after 1930. Today the Glebe Is stHI a lively, livable area. Renovation, home improve ment and a strict enforcement of the zoning still give an address in the. Glebe that certain distinction, it had years ago when the' open street-cars would take the crowds out Sank Street on an August evening to the Exhibition Grounds. 1 p4 Iroth1ewcc Ma cm In IIiKItot UttU a.

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