a storied shoebox on Albert

 Here's another shoebox, this one at 222 Albert, this time clearly made of cinderblock, with a depth-to-width ratio of a prodigious 5:1. Trust me, trust my measuring tape.

The site was a carpentry workshop through the mid-to-latter 1800s. In the mid-1880s a Mr. John McFarlane built a 2½-story brick house here. A foundry-owner and real-estate dealer, McFarlane died intestate in June 1911 (heart attack, Central Station, shortly after breakfast) and his various properties became the subject of a protracted family inheritance squabble. For some years 222 was run as rooming-house, making the news as a "disorderly house" (girls, alcohol, presumed prostitution) in February of 1928.

Newspaper mentions suggest a continued residential nature through the 1930s, but by no later than 1943 the address had become the "Oriental Club," which variously functioned as a Chinese restaurant, food store and social club. I suspect that the present structure dates, very roughly, to 1940-ish. In September 1966, the Oriental Club was busted as a gambling den. Gambling was again documented in 1970 at the the "Chinese Club," same address (Ottawa Citizen November 17).

September 20 1966, Ottawa Citizen

Google Street View indicates that 222 Albert became home to "One Hour Cleaners" no later than 2007. The long-lived, much-loved Cathay Restaurant next door (gold cladding in the main image) closed in 2010.

On the subject of the Cathay, and Ottawa's "original Chinatown," please take a few moments to read Alison Mah's "Capital Builders" article about Bill Joe.