510 Cooper Street

 When Ottawa was first being built, corner lots seem to have been all the rage with the monied sort — how better to see and being seen? Corner-hugging verandahs were common on houses that faced two streets at once. Charles Goad (insurance maps) confirms that #510 was indeed the first house built on this lot. It dates to some time between 1889 and 1900.

This late-Victorian design is solidly massed, but asymmetric to the bitter end of Empire. The owner-builder was likely William J. Campbell. He would have had a five minute walk to work in the morning — the 1901 Might Directory lists...

CAMPBELL WM J, Manufacturer of

Boilers, Tanks and Bridge Work

478-482 Maria [Laurier W],

res 510 Cooper

A detail from an 1888 Goad map shows W.J. Campbell & Co. Engineering straddling block 263 (sheet 42). The multiple tent-like marks on grey indicate skylights. A year after the above was published, there was a fire.

Ottawa Journal, July 20 1889

"All the patterns... were destroyed and will be hard to replace" — now that, I'm sure, was brutal.

I have not found an obituary that would neatly summarize Mr. Campbell's life, but I'll keep an eye open.

506 Cooper Street

An exercise in late-Victorian asymmetry, this two-and-a-half storey brick-veneered house sits on the southeast corner of Cooper and Lyon Streets. Decorative brick courses relieve the expanse of side walls and shallow-arched window enclosures on the ground floor lend an inviting feel to an otherwise imposing structure. The increasing exposure of the stone foundation from back to front reveals how Lyon's elevation drops from the ridge of Somerset Street towards the valley of Laurier and Slater.

Apparently, the house was not yet built in 1875. Woodburn lists all of six households on Cooper Street that year. "Concession st." is now Bronson Avenue.

Once again, I'm finding that the City Directories lagged behind Goad's maps in listing new addresses. For example, Polk & Woodburn 1890-91 list only "Vacant lots" running up to the Lyon intersection, even though Goad 1888 (sheet 55) depicts this house already built.

My next directory, Might 1901, lists John McLaughlin at #506. I figure McLaughlin as the builder/ first occupant — he owned the Ottawa Stair Works at 286 Bank.

Might Directory, Ottawa 1901

Shortly after this ad was published, McLauglin moved his business to 989 Somersets Street West, presently the address of "A Fine Thing" antique dealers. See discussion here.

Ottawa Journal, February 25 1914

Mr. Mclaughlin was still residing at 506 Cooper at the time of his death.

The house seems to in a good state of repair. Google Street View indicates that the front porch was refurbished in 2007, and the present occupants have turned the front yard into an inviting garden.

portrait: 252 Lisgar

The Woodburn Directories suggest a construction date between 1888 and 1890. Dr. Mark G. McElhinney, a dentist, was one of, if not the first resident. Aerial photos show that #252's tall neighbour arrived in the early 60s.

Dr. McElhinney was an avid motoring and sailing enthusiast — his name often appeared in print in that connexion.

Ottawa Journal, May 5 1913

By the time this article appeared, Dr. McElhinney was living and working at 109 Metcalfe. Emmeline McElhinney, widow of (son?) Mark P., continued to reside at the Lisgar Street house.