Look on my works ye mighty...

Earlier this week, articles from both the Ottawa Citizen and the CBC announced the probable demolition of the three-storey Sears (originally Simpsons-Sears) building on the southwest corner of the Carlingwood shopping complex. Take a moment to read Matthew Kupfer's piece (CBC) here, and Wayne Scanlon's (Citizen) here.

Mr. Kupfer pretty much sums things up in his first few lines...

The Carlingwood Shopping Centre has applied for permits to demolish the former Sears store at the corner of Carling and Woodroffe avenues. Bay Ward Coun. Mark Taylor said the mall approached his office a few days before submitting the official application and has informed its other tenants.
"They've looked at options to try to save the space, utilize it, repurpose it somehow and they have future tenants in mind that they're in discussions with," Taylor said.
"The building just isn't viable. It's very old," he said...

Both articles acknowledge the loss of Sears as an "anchor store" and both allude to possible mixed-use development of the space, including "residential" units (the c-word being avoided for the time being). I especially like Kupfer's article, as it includes his own photo of building, iconic "SEARS" lettering* removed, looking truly forlorn in one of our recent late-summer downpours. Sears, as you probably recall, filed for creditor protection in 2017 and held its last liquidation sale in January '18.

Unsurprisingly, Urbsite has already researched the building, posting a piece on its architectural history and that of its St. Laurent counterpart back in spring of 2010, illustrated with several original photos pointing various niceties of design. Get yourself educated here.

Simpson-Sears Carlingwood opened in November of 1955, and the rest of Carlingwood opened mid-March the following year, two weeks ahead of the Easter weekend.

Keystone, anchor, whatever, you get the idea. The above was published in the Ottawa Citizen on Wednesday, March 14 (giving readers plenty of time to plan their weekends) as part of a multi-page advertising announcement ahead of Carlingwood's grand opening. I've red-boxed the reference to the Laurentide Room "self-serve" restaurant (cafeteria) — how long did it last? what (if anything) replaced it? and what happened to that mural? Andrew King, please, if you're reading this...

I was interested to learn that the Carlingwood building both opened and closed as a Sears store, bidding customers adieu in January of this year. Bankruptcy notwithstanding, I'd call 62 years in the same location a jolly decent run, old man!

At some point, the Sears store gained a third floor and, for reasons which made sense to someone at the time, had some of its ground-floor windows blocked, either with cement or that lurid faux cement siding that's making the rounds. The latter move made the building less welcoming, something that never helps sales.

I'm always curious to know what stood on a site before a particular whatever was built. In this case it seems to have been hay, as this declassified aerial photo reveals...

Carling and Woodroffe, ten years before Simpsons-Sears was built

I've highlighted the land that would become Carlingwood Shopping Centre in gold — (the field boundaries don't exactly match the current outline of the parking lot).

In Ottawa, we tend to think of satellite suburbs as a post-war phenomenon, but in the above photo we see the community of Woodroffe, established before WWI, enjoying its view of the Ottawa River. Some of the oldest riverfront homes were demolished to make way for the "SJAM Parkway".

Here's a parting shot of Simpsons-Sears Carlingwood, taken by Newton of Ottawa in late 1955 or early '56. Note the "double decker" construction, the ground-floor glazing and the old OTC bus...

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*On the subject of lettering, it seems that when the Rideau Centre** opened in 1983, Eaton's (as the "anchor store") wanted the complex to be called the "Rideau Eaton Centre". The proposal was nixed and the store had to make to with an "Eaton" sign on its outer wall.

When Eaton's folded in 1999, Sears took over the space. I remember cycling past the building as the the Eaton's sign was being taken down. The Sears sign went up at the same time, so for a brief moment in time, it read "Seaton" — I wish I'd had my camera for that one.

**When Carlingwood opened, the Ottawa Citizen took to calling it a shopping center (more often than not), while the Journal favoured the frenchified centre. Some stores in the complex ducked the issue by referring to the "Carlingwood Shopping Plaza".