The Canyons of Ashburnham: 383 Albert

 Claridge "Moon" — watch it grow. I'm posting this for my research assistant Kay-El, who thinks the Ottawa skyline needs more cranes.

It'll look something like this when it's finished. Decent affordable housing? I don't think so.

densification then: 198 O'Connor

 The Kitchener Apartments at 198 O'Connor were built in 1914. The honorific likely refers to the British War Secretary Herbert Kitchener, who was at the time assembling a large volunteer army in the early days of WWI.

WWI-era patriotic postcard

The Kitchener replaced a Victorian 2½-storey house of a build similar to the two we see flanking it to this day, explaining why it looks to have been somewhat shoehorned into the lot. 

The original #198 — Goad, 1912

Advertising for the Kitchener began in late 1914 — "up-to-date, latest improvements" — and the 1915 Might directory lists twelve occupants including a doctor's office on the ground floor.

Ottawa Journal — December 7 1914

Might Directory for Ottawa — 1915

255 Nepean Street

 I'm coming up with circa 1912 for this modest late-Edwardian apartment block. By then, limestone foundations were a dying breed. Goad (sheet 38, "reprinted, May 1912") depicts a three-storey, brick-on-wood "apartment house" without the present entryway/balcony appendage. Ads for the building mentioning "flats" with balconies appeared no later than 1925.

The lot originally served as the back-yard and sheds for a set of row-houses facing onto Kent, across from St. Patrick's Basilica.

Goad, 1912 — the red arrow indicates 253-255 Nepean. The row to its left, was eventually replaced by the Kent Place apartments at 225 Kent. Aerial photos show the old row extant until at least 1933.

The Queen Elizabeth, 201 Metcalfe

 The recently renovated Queen Elizabeth apartment building on Metcalfe Street was built in 1939 by Isidore Stone. Its name commemorates that year's North American visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) on the eve of WWII — think "The King's Speech."

Yes, that "King's Speech."

Stone built the Queen Elizabeth as a companion to the Stonehall Apartments across the street. "Stone" hall, get it?

If my image looks grungier than usual, I've been reviving my attempts to simulate the appearance of early 20th century hand-coloured postcards — and I have seen a few that look at least as grim as this. View full size to confirm that my Sony RX100's one-inch sensor didn't skimp on resolution.

Here's a brighter, albeit grainier image from the late summer of 1939. 

Check out the trees, the car and the above-ground wiring. Notice the little iron-tubing fence at the SE corner of Metcalfe and Lisgar, put there to keep people from cutting across the grass. If you view the full-size image you can just make out the "201" in the faux-sandstone, above the split-porthole glazing on the doors of the main entrance.