Ontario Construction News staff writer
Ottawa’s municipal Built Heritage Committee has recommended that seven properties in Britannia Village be designated as heritage properties, including the Britannia Yacht Club.
The committee cited a number of criteria, including the buildings’ connection to the creation of the Britannia Yacht Club, the development of the area into a suburb, and the expansion of the Ottawa Electric Railway to Britannia, for the purposes of designating them as heritage properties.
In a separate recommendation, the committee recommended the designation of two properties on Rideau Street, both of which meet five of the nine criteria.
The property at 41 Rideau has design value as an early Ottawa example of a steel-frame skyscraper in the Chicago style, built by Robert and Russell Blackburn, while the property at 73 Rideau Street has direct associations with Freiman’s department store and the Freiman family’s history.
The committee also recommended the removal of 979 properties from the City’s Municipal Heritage Register as part of a broader strategy to protect historic buildings. The register provides protection from demolition for buildings that are considered to have cultural heritage value.
The city will remove properties from the register in phases in order to comply with the Ontario Heritage Act, and will provide opportunities for properties that are at risk of being demolished to be re-added to the register at a later date.