OTTAWA | Lowertown

[flar]

LOWERTOWN
Ottawa
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Lowertown has Ottawa's oldest and most eclectic housing. The housing is a mix of old and new with
a strong French Canadian influence and lots of modern infill.

This tour focuses on the residential areas north of the Byward Market and west of King Edward Avenue.
Nearly all of the historic buildings east of King Edward were demolished and replaced with newer
development.

This neighbourhood was originally a mix of French Canadian and Irish. These days about 42% of
residents speak English, 35% speak French and 22% speak another language.

The Byward Market is in Lowertown, I photographed it separately and the tour can be found here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=176157
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[ColDayMan]

Great tour!

[xzmattzx]

Nice, lots of great old stone buildings mixed in with the brick and frame places.

Interesting to see log construction in the middle of a city (but maybe it makes sense with it being one of the earliest parts of the city?). Allow me to brag a little: log buildings originated in the New World here in Delaware, after being brought over by the Swedish in 1638.

[Ottawan]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Nice, lots of great old stone buildings mixed in with the brick and frame places.

Interesting to see log construction in the middle of a city (but maybe it makes sense with it being one of the earliest parts of the city?). Allow me to brag a little: log buildings originated in the New World here in Delaware, after being brought over by the Swedish in 1638.

This is what makes Lowertown so great - it's not just 'one of the earliest parts of the city' but THE remaining early part of the city: the plans for Bytown laid out by Colonel By in 1826 included this part of Lowertown, which was quickly built up and has remained urban to this day - and Uppertown, the initial portion of which is completely gone as it was within what is now known as the 'judicial district' (the area west of Parliament and north of Wellington).

Anyway: as always, it is a beautiful photo tour Flar.

[Sekkle]

looks very cool. Awesome tour, flar.

[Thundertubs]

That is a cool neighborhood. It's a mish-mash of housing styles, yet somehow cohesive.

[flar]

The housing in this neighbourhood is the most interesting I've seen in Ottawa. There are some very old houses here, by Ontario standards.

[dktshb]

The neighborhood is really pretty. Thanks for sharing.

[citizen j]

Thanks for another great tour, flar.
I used to live in this neighbourhood (on St. Andrew Street) and loved its mix of architectural styles. Sad to see that the owners of the property at Cumberland and Murray are still sitting on their thumbs.

[Chef]

Considering how fantastic this thread is, it doesn't have nearly enough responses.

[Expat]

Thanks for introducing this neighborhood to me. One of the most interesting collections I have seen. Did we see a log cabin duplex?

[Bedhead]

Cool - it seems to me that because wood was used so extensively in North America - even on brick buildings - that carpenters were able to add unique touches to buildings that would have been much more difficult/expensive to do if they had been using stone/brick/cast iron. All this makes for a rich diversity of historical buildings that you don't always see in Europe, where timber was used less during the same period.

[flar]

^^These elaborate wooden porches might be one of the defining characteristics of the Ottawa vernacular. Ottawa was originally a lumber town, so it makes sense that there is so much elaborate woodwork. The one below is a good example:

Originally Posted by Expat

Did we see a log cabin duplex?

Indeed we did, maybe another relic of the lumber town.

[HHC]

Great stuff Flar. Ottawa reminds me of St Louis a little bit, in terms of the abundance of brick housing stock. Have you tapped into St Catherine's or Windsor yet?

[giallo]

Sick housing stock!

[flar]

Originally Posted by HHC

Great stuff Flar. Ottawa reminds me of St Louis a little bit, in terms of the abundance of brick housing stock. Have you tapped into St Catherine's or Windsor yet?

St. Catharines: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=137693

Windsor, a few years ago I had a some pics from Ford City and Walkerville, but they disappeared. Someday I want to do a proper tour of Windsor.

[aesthetic]

You did a great job here as usual. This thread probably deserves more responses considering the area has such an interesting array of architecture by Ottawa standards. I'm such a sucker for brick. Love all the vibrant colours.