macdonald gardens: a neighbourhood in lowertown … · 8/1/2014 · macdonald gardens: a...

Macdonald Gardens: A Neighbourhood in Lowertown East

A Study in Community Heritage

August 22, 2014

Report prepared by graduate students in CDNS 5402 Heritage Conservation: Theory in Practice

Student Team, January to April 2014

Margaret Caron-Vuotari Caitlin Charbonneau

Victoria Ellis Stephanie Elliott

Sachi Hirono Heather Leroux

Emily Webster-Mason

Report Editors, May to August 2014 Victoria Ellis, MA student Professor Susan Ross

School of Canadian Studies, Carleton University

Heritage Conservation Programme

MACDONALD GARDENS: A NEIGHBOURHOOD IN LOWERTOWN EAST

Macdonald Gardens: A Neighbourhood in Lowertown East A Study in Community Heritage

Table of Contents 1.0. Introduction 2.0. Report Methodology The Team Approach Objectives Scope and Boundaries Human Resources Material Resources Terminology Photography and Site Visits Works Cited 3.0 Historical Analysis 3.1. Historical Overview and Summary Methodology Lowertown East pre-‐1843 Summary of Historical Values Overview and Timeline Table 1: Chronology of Key Historical Events

3.2. Social History: Residents and Housing, ca. 1875-‐1980 Methodology

Demographic Factors 1875-‐1910 Early 20th Century: Important Residents and Figures

1960s Changing Demographics: Tenants and Rental Towers Cooperatives and Public Housing, 1960s-‐1970s Summary

Works Cited Figures

3.3. The Evolution of Sandy Hill Cemeteries Methodology A Brief Overview: The Evolution of the Urban Cemetery in Ontario Early Nineteenth-‐Century Cemeteries of Bytown Sandy Hill Cemeteries: 1840-‐1875 Present-‐Day Memorial and Recognition Summary Works Cited Figures

3.4. Institutions in Lowertown East 1851 to the Present Methodology

Twelve Institutional Properties


605 Rideau Street 589 Rideau Street 197-‐199 Wurtemburg Street 633 Rideau Street 635 Rideau Street 95 Cobourg Street Porter’s Island 105-‐107 Wurtemburg Street 201 Wurtemburg Street 95 Wurtemburg Street 655 Wurtemburg Street Summary

Works Cited Figures

3.5. Urban Park Landscape: 1875 to today Methodology

Park Planning and Context: Local and National “Old Sandy Hill Cemeteries” – 1873-‐1911 Frederick Todd and Macdonald Gardens – 1912-‐1914 A “Capital Landscape” – 1915-‐1945 Transition and Decline: 1946-‐1970 Community Engagement, Street Closure and Commemoration: 1970s to the present Summary Works Cited Figures

3.6. Urban Renewal in Lowertown East, 1969-‐1978 Methodology The National Context The Local Context Urban Renewal in Lowertown East End of Renewal and Charlotte Street Closure Aftermath: Communities and Boundaries Works Cited Figures

4.0. Built Heritage

Methodology Lowertown Settlement: Initial Buildings Building Typologies Residential

Multi-‐Unit / Low Rise Apartments or Flats High-‐Rise Slabs and Tower Larger Homes/Embassies Row/Town Home Developments

Commercial Open Spaces & Leisure The ‘Summer House’ in the Park

Structures of Significance


Designated Buildings Undesignated Buildings Demolished Buildings Proposed Structures

Summary Further Research

Considerations for Designation Neighbourhood Management Guidelines Works Cited Figures 5.0. Boundaries

Methodology Historical Factors Table 2: Ottawa’s 19th-‐Century Churches by Religious Denomination Physical and Visual Factors Social Factors Legal and Political Factors Conclusion Works Cited Figures

6.0. Values and Planning Guidelines 6.1. Planning Guidelines and Values-‐Based Conservation

Heritage Conservation Urban and Vernacular Heritage

Cultural Landscapes Archaeology Heritage Conservation Districts and Community Design Plans

Three Ottawa Heritage Conservation Districts Works Cited Figures

6.2. Critical Analysis of Heritage Conservation District (HCD) Designation Community Engagement: The Value of Designation

“Historic Credibility” and Gentrification: Critiques of HCDs Some Practical Perspectives Other Possible Strategies Works Cited 6.3. Draft Evaluation of Significance

Methodology Statement of Significance

7.0. Recommendations Recommendations for Historic Research Housing and Residents Cemeteries Institutions Urban Park

Recommendations for Community Engagement Methods of Community Engagement


Recommendations for Built Heritage Research Initial Considerations for Designation Neighbourhood Management Guidelines

Archaeological Considerations Non-‐Invasive Archaeological Techniques

Benefits of Geophysical Archaeology Recommendations for Landscape and Environment Funding Summary of Recommendations

Appendices

I. Course Requirements II. Cemetery Archaeology: Examples of Non-‐Invasive investigation III. Residents Inventory IV. List of Names in the Sandy Hill Cemeteries V. Institutional Timeline (Hand-‐out) VI. Architectural Inventory (Infographic) VII. Example of Architectural Inventory Sheets VIII. Community Engagement IX. Further Reading


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1.0 Introduction

On August 13, 2014 the Lowertown Community Association organized a celebration of the

100th anniversary of Macdonald Gardens Park. This park, and the neighbourhood that

surrounds it, are the subject of this website, a study in community heritage.

The Ottawa neighbourhood known as Macdonald Gardens lies in the eastern-‐most

corner of ‘Lowertown East’, tucked away north of Rideau St., west and south of the Rideau

River, and east of Cobourg Street (Fig. 1). At what is more or less its geographical centre is

the Macdonald Gardens park: eight acres of grass, trees, and winding paths. It is this park

that will spring to the minds of most who hear the name, partially because of its iconic

summer house on a hill (Fig. 2) and partially because of its history as one of Ottawa’s

earliest cemeteries. Yet the neighbourhood surrounding this park is also one of Ottawa’s

oldest, and is equally worthy of study and commemoration.

The area’s housing and residents are a complex, diverse mix: it is possible, through a

study of Macdonald Gardens’ built heritage, to see a microcosm of Ottawa’s changing

cultural and urban planning landscape over the course of the 20th century (Fig. 3). An

integral part of that built and cultural heritage is the institutional presence that dominated

this area in the early 20th century, whose hospitals and embassies shaped, and in some

cases, continue to be part of the social makeup of the neighbourhood. Although urban

renewal ravaged much of Lowertown East in the late 1960s, this section of the larger plan

was left relatively less scathed, resulting in a well-‐preserved built landscape that can tell us

much about the value of what was otherwise lost as the city shifted into a period of much

denser urban growth. This park and the built heritage around it tell a story of Ottawa’s

many attempts to beautify itself, to be seen as a national capital, and to attempt to meet the

housing needs of its residents.

Initiated at the request of community members, this report was completed by

students in CDNS 5402 a graduate seminar in Heritage Conservation at Carleton

University’s School of Canadian Studies in between January and August 2014 (Fig. 4). It

explores the layers of historic values that the neighbourhood of Macdonald Gardens

possesses, including providing a draft Statement of Significance for review by the


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community. Recognizing that there is still yet much more work to be done, this report also

provides recommendation for further research and action. It is our hope that this research

will be useful in helping the Macdonald Gardens community to further understand the

area’s history, and possible heritage values, and in identifying next steps the community

might take to reinforce its capacity to survive future urban development.

Report Editors: Victoria Ellis, MA student, and Professor Susan Ross, Heritage Conservation Programme, Carleton University

Student team: Margaret Caron-‐Vuotari, Caitlin Charbonneau, Victoria Ellis, Stephanie Elliott, Sachi Hirono, Heather Leroux and Emily Webster-‐Mason

We would also like to acknowledge the help and input of Nancy Miller-‐Chenier of the

Lowertown Community Association (LCA), whose resources and direction were essential to

this project.


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Figures

FIG. 1: Macdonald Gardens, Lowertown East, Ottawa Source: GeoOttawa, 2014.

FIG. 2: View of the Macdonald Gardens park’s iconic summer house. (Photo: Susan Ross, 2014)


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FIG. 3: Clarence St. streetscape in Macdonald Gardens. (Photo: Susan Ross, 2014)

FIG. 4: Carleton Students on Heney Street. (Photo: Susan Ross, 2014)


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2.0. Report Methodologies The Team Approach

In beginning this research our team of seven graduate students was faced with the

decision of which approach to take when taking on such a large variety of tasks. As

part of our course work for CDNS 5402 – Heritage Conservation: Theory in Practice,

we chose an approach that enabled us to explore the value of teamwork geared to

individual skills in heritage conservation. Initially, we worked with a draft table of

contents drawn up by professor Susan Ross encompassing historical analysis, built

heritage, boundary analysis, environment and sustainability, and planning

frameworks. Susan Ross also provided the team with a list of initial reference

material on all of these subjects, available in Appendix IX.

Our team, made up of graduate students in the departments of Canadian

Studies, Art History and Architecture, divided research of these subjects based on

interest, skills, and prior knowledge. Although each section included its own

research questions, each team member also worked to answer some initial research

questions. These included defining the boundaries of our study area, discovering the

main historic themes of the neighbourhood and their relevance to its significance,

and deciding whether any sort of designation of Lowertown East would be

appropriate. We attempted to address many of these questions in Section 5:0:

Boundaries and Section 6.0: Values and Planning Frameworks, both located at the

end of this report. After the initial course semester was complete, Victoria Ellis, a

student from this class worked as a paid research assistant to conduct further

research, edit and compile all sections.

Historical analysis (Section 3.0) became a large part of this project, based

partially upon its importance in understanding the changing heritage of Lowertown

and partially upon the research interests of this team. The methodologies of each of

these sections were informed by the varying academic backgrounds of our team

members (history, art history, architecture) and by the resources available. Some

students also took on secondary organizational roles, such as monitoring the table


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of contents, creating a mapping system or templates, organizing our online file-‐

sharing system, or note-‐taking at regular group meetings.

In order to keep our team up to date and working efficiently we made use of

a number of online tools. ‘Dropbox’, an online file-‐sharing system, allowed us to

have access to each others’ research and notes. Carleton’s cuLearn system provided

us with a forum for discussion and record-‐keeping. An initial WordPress blog set up

to provide public access to our project did not play a large role in our research

process, but is our platform for publishing the final product in PDF form to allow

community access and engagement.

Learning Objectives and Community Objectives

In this report we had two types of goals: learning objectives and community

objectives. As graduate-‐level students in heritage conservation we intended to

relate this project to our course’s study of various conservation approaches and to

the connection between natural and cultural values. A major part of these objectives

included learning how to work in a professional, multi-‐talented team. Following

completion of the course, as we worked to finish this report for the community,

some sections were altered, combined, or rearranged in order to prioritize

community objectives.

Community objectives included supplying the Lowertown community with

research and recommendations. There were specific questions posed by community

members that we hoped to answer and specific concerns to be addressed – the lack

of maintenance in the park and its gardens, for example, and the encroachment of

Rideau St development upon the neighbourhood’s built heritage. Initial community

objectives were gathered by professor Susan Ross through meetings and phone calls

with Nancy Miller-‐Chenier and Shannon Ricketts of the Lowertown Community

Association and other involved neighbours. Community questions included whether

or not there are still graves in the park from its 19th-‐century use as a cemetery and

how much of the original 1912 Frederick Todd design of the park remained. We

compared this study with research done on The Wedge: A Cultural Landscape Study


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in Lowertown East, and set out to build on that research to provide the community

with options. The Wedge, a study of an adjacent neighbourhood in Lowertown East,

was completed in April 2012 in an earlier cohort of this course. Given the proximity

of “the Wedge” to our study area and overlapping interests, many researchers used

the report as a starting point, building off its earlier research rather than repeating

it. This report was an invaluable guide in showing us what remained to be

researched in Lowertown East and in providing an example of comparable

methodology. See Appendix IX: Further Reading for a full citation. We also wanted to

place this research in its current context, which includes impending intensification

and development such as the potential condominium tower at 541 Rideau Street.

The question of whether official designation was possible or desirable for

this neighbourhood informed much of our early objectives. Given the close

proximity of this neighbourhood to two Heritage Conservation Districts

(Lowertown West and Sandy Hill) as well as the research left to be done on

alternative options for protecting this area’s heritage, the objective of this report is

not necessarily to pursue designation. Rather, we hoped that in providing this

research to the community we could provide context and options on the value of the

area’s history and heritage, and outline how those values translate to various

conservation and designation discussions.

Scope and Boundaries

Defining boundaries and scope of a study of Macdonald Gardens became an ongoing

part of this project rather than an initial decision. A few factors played into this

process: namely, time constraints, the season and natural elements, and availability

of research. This project was originally completed as part of one semester’s course

in heritage conservation practice. The approximately 10 weeks this class could

devote to this project, in the middle of winter, meant that we could not explore the

geography of the site as well as we may have liked or taken comprehensive

photography. One principal site visit with the entire class, led by professor Susan

Ross and Nancy Miller-‐Chenier took place in January 2014.


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In the following summer months, course instructor Susan Ross and research

assistant Victoria Ellis were able to take site visits to document the landscape and

architecture. With this extended time frame it was also possible to conduct further

research at the National Capital Commission and Library and Archives Canada. This

summer work allowed us to complete missing sections and to fill in the gaps of what

had already been researched.1

Tracking down resources through other individual researchers and at the

national archives also took up a good portion of our time. The result is that this

project acts as preliminary research for future workers. We will make

recommendations as to the location and availability of resources in this paper, and

will advise future researchers of directions we believe this work should take.

The nature of this research project meant that many topics or themes were

the sole domain of one student throughout the course of the semester. Although this

system worked well for historical and architectural research, the question of

boundaries required input from all members of the team. Over the four months of

course work on this project, our team struggled to define any coherent, consistent

set of boundaries for the area under study. In comparison to “The Wedge,” this

neighbourhood’s boundaries were much more difficult to define. We accepted as a

given that Macdonald Gardens itself – the park bordered by Heney, Tormey,

Cobourg, and Wurtemburg – played a focal role and would likely be located at the

centre. Yet without a firm geographical, historical, or social boundary, it was

necessary for each section to create its own boundaries based on the practicality of

time constraints and the availability of resources.

We did take as a starting point the boundaries of “English Lowertown”

outlined in Lowertown East: Our Disappearing Heritage, a 2011 report from Nancy

Miller-‐Chenier and Marc Aubin. This triangular area by no means encompassed all of

our research, but this boundary allowed us to focus our research around this area.

The fact that this concept came from residents of the neighbourhood was also

1 A majority of this research related to the park grounds itself. The original version of this report produced as course work included an outline of an Urban Parks section, drawn up by the course instructor after a student withdrew from the course in late March.


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important to us, since we hoped to avoid projecting artificial boundaries onto this

community of neighbours. In this report, the reader will find a discussion of

boundary evolutions and our individual methodologies to approaching scope in

each section. Section 5:0: Boundaries includes a detailed explanation of existing

methodologies useful for conceptualizing heritage boundaries. Here, the reader can

also find a discussion of the role this community’s boundaries will play in any steps

taken to secure protection or designation.

Human Resources

Throughout this project our team were lucky to call upon the services of a variety of

researchers, professionals and Lowertown citizens. Their knowledge shaped our

final product and we would be remiss if we did not mention their impact.

• Monica Ferguson and the staff at Carleton University’s Maps, Data and Government Information Centre (MADGIC) provided us with access to planning maps, government resources, Scholars GEOPortal and many other resources. She was also able to give our team a tour of the available resources, including creating a display available throughout the term of a selection of maps and archival planning material as well as digital mapping software.

• Nancy Miller-‐Chenier of the Lowertown Community Association’s heritage committee was available throughout our research for consultation and input as a historian, researchers and active Lowertown resident. She also gave our team a tour of the Macdonald Gardens neighbourhood and alerted us to specific research questions or historical blank spots.

• Shannon Ricketts is the Lowertown citizen and historian who brought the idea of the project to Susan Ross’ attention. She was also available to provide input on a draft of our project toward the end of the course.

• Other historians and heritage professionals who lent us their expertise include Dr. Bruce Elliott, who gave valuable advice on local history and cemeteries, and John Zvonar, a conservation landscape architect at Public Works and Government Services Canada who provided reference materials on the investigation of cemeteries.


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Material Resources

Several existing mapping and archival resources were key to this research. Each

section in this report will outline its individual methodology and works cited, but

this section should serve as an overview of our available resources coming into this

project. Further reading suggestions are also found in Appendix IX. Please note that

citations for online sources throughout the report will not include web addresses;

these are available in the Works Cited at the end of each section. Each Works Cited is

organized by APA guidelines in sections by type (e.g. Archival Sources, Books,

Journal Articles).

Monica Ferguson at Carleton University’s MADGIC pulled a selection of

important maps relating to Lowertown’s history in a temporary exhibit for our

access. Bruce Elliott’s undergraduate class on local histories also had a similar

exhibit, which we were able to consult. For both historical and architectural

analysis, fire insurance plans located at the City of Ottawa Archives were integral to

understanding the makeup of the Lowertown community over time. These maps

showed existing housing, materials, and other extremely pertinent information that

allowed us to understand the changing demography of the neighbourhood through

its built history. However, these resources were only available at interval years and

do not provide a complete picture of the neighbourhood. To complement this

research, city directories located at the City of Ottawa Archives gave insight into the

area’s residents and addresses.

For the history of Ottawa’s urban planning and the city’s involvement in

Lowertown, we relied heavily on city council bylaws and minutes. These records are

available both at the City of Ottawa Archives and in the Ottawa Room at the Ottawa

Public Library main branch.

Site Visits and Photography

In terms of photography, Susan Ross and Megan Beange documented our site visit to

Macdonald Gardens in February 2014. These photos were available to all


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researchers through Dropbox. Archival photos of the site are limited, but further

research at Library and Archives Canada could yield further results.

Because of the time of year when the project began, site visits did not initially

play a great role. One group visit was organized and led by Professor Ross with

Nancy Miller Chenier in early February. Professor Ross returned four times

between May and August 2014 to pursue systematic documentation of the

landscape and buildings, with the objective of recording four main themes:

• Streetscapes

• The Park

• Housing Types

• The Rideau River

These photographs are presented both in galleries on the final webpage, and

integrated where appropriate in specific report sections.

Terminology

It was found necessary to search certain words using a range of spellings:

• Lowertown (Lower Town)

• Wurtemburg (Wurtimburg, Wurtemberg, Wirtemburgh)

• Cobourg (Coburg, Coburgh)

• Macdonald Gardens (MacDonald Gardens, MacDonald Park, Borden Park, Old

Sandy Hill Cemeteries)

Macdonald Gardens: A Neighbourhood in Lowertown East A Study in Community Heritage

1.0. Introduction 2.0. Methodologies

---END PDF 1--- 3.0 Histor ical Analysis 3.1. Historical Overview and Summary

3.2. Social History: Residents and Housing 3.3. Evolution of the Sandy Hill Cemeteries

---END PDF 2---

3.4. Institutions in Lowertown East 1851 to the Present 3.5. Urban Park Landscape: 1875 to today 3.6. Urban Renewal in Lowertown East, 1969-‐1978

---END PDF 3--- 4.0. Bui l t Heritage

---END PDF 4--- 5.0. Boundaries 6.0. Values and Planning Guidel ines 6.1. Planning Guidelines and Values-‐Based Conservation

6.2. Critical Analysis of Heritage Conservation District (HCD) Designation 6.3. Draft Evaluation of Significance

7.0. Recommendations

---END PDF 5--- Appendices

I. Course Requirements II. Cemetery Archaeology: Examples of Non-‐Invasive investigation III. Residents Inventory IV. List of Names in the Sandy Hill Cemeteries V. Institutional Timeline (Hand-‐out) VI. Architectural Inventory (Infographic) VII. Example of Architectural Inventory Sheets VIII. Community Engagement IX. Further Reading

---END PDF 6---

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