From Ken Clavette’s Album of Bygone Sandy Hill

Rideau has always been the main shopping and business street for Sandy Hill, it also seems to always be under construction. This road crew hard at work at Dalhousie got me thinking about the state of our Sandy Hill roads after another hard Ottawa winter. The photo is undated but that billboard on the corner at ground level, under the Ovido Havana Cigars and the Stag Tobacco looks to be a 1920 Oldsmobile Model 37-A, 6-cyl. This would jibe with the fact that they were still in the age of pick and shovel work. Now I wonder how fast this crew could repair our streets, or maybe build the OTrain?

The building on the corner at 155-159 is known as the Clegg-Feller building built circa 1864 and still standing, as is the building to the west at 151. The dormer windows are gone now but it looks much the same as when photographer William Carron operated a studio there from 1911 to 1924. From Dalhousie Street one can see a large recessed window on the side with a 36-light sash inclined inward at the top to capture more light; a type of window generally associated with art or photography studios.This building escaped demolition in 1990 thanks to the work of Heritage Ottawa.

To learn more about some of Ottawa’s Heritage buildings check out Heritage Ottawa – https://heritageottawa.org/50-years-50-stories