There is a Gloucester limestone and iron railing fence along the east side of Wurtemburg Street that once stood guard for a great house.
Today it fences off the front yard of The Watergate Apartment (1970-71, Cadillac Fairview Developments) so-named just before its more famous DC landmark became infamous.
This was the fence at 'Glensmere', the Ottawa home of Robert Laird Borden, Prime Minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920.
Borden purchased the house around 1907, while still Leader of the Opposition. Knighted in 1915, he lived here until his death in 1937.
The house was an outstanding example of the Shingle Style of architecture, so-called because its simple volumes were often covered in wooden shingles. American Colonial Revival touches, like the fanlight windows in the eaves were another typical feature of the Shingle Style. This is the house nearing completion in the mid-1890s.
The Bordens made some minor changes to the ground, by enlarging some of the windows, and adding Palladian details to the entrance.
The design is attributed to architect Frederick J. Alexander, who had started his practice in South Africa. If so it's unique in his career, which was mostly marked by conventional red brick houses in Centretown.
A colonial revival porch wrapped around the river-facing tower. After Sir Robert's death in 1937, his widow Laura Borden continued to live at the house until the early 1940s, when it was sold to the Chinese Nationalist Government, during a visit to Ottawa by Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (!).
The house had originally been commissioned in 1894 by Hayter Reed, Deputy Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs.
While there had been some discussion about declaring the property a National Historic Site in the early 1960s, that designation never happened. The Chinese Nationalist Government maintained its legation here until 1970, when it they sold it for redevelopment.
This is Sir Robert practising his swing on the terraced lawns of Glensmere late in life. The demolition of the Robert Borden house created some stir amongst historians and the still embryonic heritage preservation movement, but to little effect.
The fence could probably use a little plaque to explain things.
There is a Gloucester limestone and iron railing fence along the east side of Wurtemburg Street that once stood guard for a great house.
Today it fences off the front yard of The Watergate Apartment (1970-71, Cadillac Fairview Developments) so-named just before its more famous DC landmark became infamous.
This was the fence at 'Glensmere', the Ottawa home of Robert Laird Borden, Prime Minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920.
Borden purchased the house around 1907, while still Leader of the Opposition. Knighted in 1915, he lived here until his death in 1937.
The house was an outstanding example of the Shingle Style of architecture, so-called because its simple volumes were often covered in wooden shingles. American Colonial Revival touches, like the fanlight windows in the eaves were another typical feature of the Shingle Style. This is the house nearing completion in the mid-1890s.
The Bordens made some minor changes to the ground, by enlarging some of the windows, and adding Palladian details to the entrance.
The design is attributed to architect Frederick J. Alexander, who had started his practice in South Africa. If so it's unique in his career, which was mostly marked by conventional red brick houses in Centretown.
A colonial revival porch wrapped around the river-facing tower. After Sir Robert's death in 1937, his widow Laura Borden continued to live at the house until the early 1940s, when it was sold to the Chinese Nationalist Government, during a visit to Ottawa by Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (!).
The house had originally been commissioned in 1894 by Hayter Reed, Deputy Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs.
While there had been some discussion about declaring the property a National Historic Site in the early 1960s, that designation never happened. The Chinese Nationalist Government maintained its legation here until 1970, when it they sold it for redevelopment.
This is Sir Robert practising his swing on the terraced lawns of Glensmere late in life. The demolition of the Robert Borden house created some stir amongst historians and the still embryonic heritage preservation movement, but to little effect.
The fence could probably use a little plaque to explain things.
I had only ever heard of but never seen the Borden house. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhy they only use small fence?
ReplyDelete