Our History in Brief
Sandy Hill is one of Ottawa's oldest communities. Sandy Hill was, during the
19th and early 20th centuries, Ottawa's wealthiest neighbourhood. Then, a
fair distance from downtown, it was home to mostly Ottawa lumber barons and
to the Prime Minister who lived at what is now known as Laurier House. It
was for this reason that the University of Ottawa located in this region.
The construction of bridges over the canal and the introduction of
automobiles and streetcars made the area much closer to downtown, and so the
very wealthy moved to Rockcliffe Park.
The area saw much growth at the end of the Second World War with the baby
boom and the nearby federal government began hiring. Many of the once grand
mansions became embassies. Many nations still have their embassies in Sandy
Hill many of which are clustered near the Rideau River.
The community of Sandy Hill is perched atop a hill just south of The Market.
It is bordered by the Rideau canal to the West, the Rideau river to the
East, the Queensway to the South, and Rideau Street to the North. Although
the area is now an old, established community with large mature trees and a
relatively diverse class base, it was not always so. In the 1860's Sandy
Hill was just that- a barren desolate hill. For the past 30 years the people
of Ottawa had logged the trees which once crowned the hill. When Ottawa
became the capital of the Upper and Lower Canadas in 1865 there was suddenly
a large influx of some 300-400 people, mostly associated with the workings
of the government, the majority of these white-collar workers chose to
settle in the brand new community of Sandy Hill. With the arrival of so many
new residents and basically a new class of people, majority landowners Louis
Besserer and Colonel By decided to survey their land on and around Sandy
Hill. Besserer and J.W. Stewart were given the job of planning the community
and decided to impose a Georgian street plan on the area, totally
disregarding the hilly topography and any street plan which might better fit
it. So, south of Rideau street all the way to Laurier one sees the typical
Georgian street plan with 66' roads. However, south of Laurier, the two men
decided that all roads should be only 60' in width in order to save money
and to increase property size. It is thus that not all the streets north and
south of Laurier line up with each other. Besserer and Stewart also changed
the orientation of the rectangular blocks from East-West, seen North of
Laurier, to North-South, seen South of Laurier.
A characteristic of Sandy Hill which makes it unique to the rest of the city
is the rich and varied architectural styles of its homes. In a five minute
drive through the community, one may see a dozen different house styles,
ranging from Spanish Colonial Revival and Victorian, to Georgian and
Romanesque. More importantly, however, by looking at the history of the area
one may begin to understand why Sandy Hill homes look as they do. Conditions
for the architectural mosaic of the area were perfect from its very
beginning. A large infusion of wealthy home-buyers with a relatively broad
religious and cultural base, and skilled labourers with the resources to
back them up all played an important role in the building of Sandy Hill's
homes.
Since the great construction projects of the Parliament Buildings and the
Rideau Canal, the Ottawa area probably enjoyed an increase in the number and
diversity of tradesmen. These men, especially those with experience on the
Gothic style Parliament Buildings, would have been invaluable to the
development of Sandy Hill's homes, such as Stadacona Hall with its gothic
design.
Notable Sites:
Laurier House
University of Ottawa
Strathcona Park
5 Blackburn
Embassies
Algeria (Fleck/Paterson House)
Austria
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam (Stadacona Hall)
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Democratic Republic of Congo
Côte d'Ivoire
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Croatia (Toller House)
Gabon
Guinea
Kenya
Mali
Morocco
Myanmar
Niger
Pakistan
Poland
Russia
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Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
Sudan
Switzerland
Tanzania
Togo
Uganda
Venezuela
Vietnam |
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