St. Patrick Street Irish: The Whelans at 332
By Nancy Miller Chenier A magnificent, repurposed church, St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts, home of the National Irish Canadian Cultural Centre, and the ruins of Our Lady’s, a former Roman Catholic school, now serve as monuments to the Irish Catholic settlers of Lowertown. Along the south side of St. Patrick Street between Cumberland and…
What’s in a name? Uncovering the namesake of Tormey Street
By Curtis Wolfe Tormey Street, bordering Macdonald Gardens Park in Lowertown East, commemorates William Tormey, a blacksmith and civic leader whose work during the Rideau Canal’s construction, and contributions to the development of early Bytown, had a long-lasting impact on the city. Born in 1795 in County Tyrone in what is now Northern Ireland, William…
King Edward memories
By Michel Rossignol Thousands of vehicles travel on King Edward Avenue every day, but I remember a few occasions when there was little or no traffic on that street. On Wednesday, October 16, 1957, I was in my third-grade class at Guigues School on Murray Street between Dalhousie and Cumberland. Around 9:30, the teacher told…
Souvenirs de King Edward
Par Michel Rossignol Des milliers de véhicules circulent sur l’avenue King Edward chaque jour, mais je me souviens de quelques occasions où il y avait peu ou pas de circulation sur cette rue. Le mercredi, 16 octobre 1957, une belle journée automnale, j’étais dans ma classe de troisième année à l’École Guigues sur la rue…
Lady Grey Drive wall and escarpment work underway
By Allen Brown The Lady Grey Drive retaining wall, built in 1911 with local stone, has undergone several repairs over the years, most recently in 2010. Despite these efforts, parts of the wall started to collapse near the Ottawa Rowing Club in 2020. The National Capital Commission (NCC) therefore has begun a project to replace…
“Wall of condos” being built with city subsidies
By Allen Brown The feature story in the February 2024 edition of the Echo focused on city council’s approval of a new addition to the Andaz Hotel and an adjacent 22-storey residential rental building by Claridge Homes at 141 George Street. The article pointed out that the developer didn’t implement recommendations by the Ontario Municipal…