Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
26 Oct 1880, Tue • Page 4
Did any of your ancestors donate to the hospital?
Pakenham
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
26 Oct 1880, Tue • Page 4
Carleton Place
https://heritageottawa.org/50years/wallis-house
The Carleton County Protestant General Hospital circa 1900 – now The Wallis House
I found this yesterday
On September 19, 1850, the corner stone for The County of Carleton Protestant General Hospital was laid; it opened in May, 1851, on the open area to the east of where Wallis House.now stands. The two-storey stone structure opened with ten beds and two employees – a steward and a matron (his wife) to tend to the sick .
A third storey was added to the hospital’s east wing in 1912 and large sun rooms constructed at the ends of the wards on Rideau Street . The last major epidemic to strike Ottawa was typhoid fever in 1912; so many patients were admitted that tents had to be set up on the grounds where the first hospital once stood. By 1920, Ottawa’s medical requirements outgrew the city’s facilities and the County of Carleton Protestant Hospital and St . Luke’s Hospital were amalgamated to form the Civic Hospital, which moved to a new building on Carling Avenue in 1924.
Tents around the Protestant General Hospital during the 1912 Typhoid Epidemic
Epidemics of typhus, typhoid, cholera and small pox continued to scourge the city, and by 1870 the first hospital was inadequate. A new hospital was designed by Robert Surtees, and construction was begun on 16 May 1873. The corner stone was laid by the Governor General Earl Dufferin with full masonic ceremonies. read–Dark Moments in Ottawa History- Porter Island
The hospital opened in 1875 with a capacity of 75 beds. It was the largest, most modern, and best equipped hospital in Ottawa, with high ceilings and segregated wards separated by long corridors. The first hospital was recast as an isolation hospital for contagious diseases, and was demolished around 1900 due to its condition.
What happened to the building?
Heritage Ottawa president at the time Louise Coates invited the media to a chilly demonstration in front of Wallis House on February 21, Heritage Day, to highlight the need for a solution that would see the building conserved. After deliberating for a month, Public Works refused an offer which would have seen the building converted into market-value apartments with townhouses to the north, and non-profit housing to the east.
Increased pressure by Heritage Ottawa, elected officials and other community groups resulted in the government re-tendering with a closing date of April 18, 1994. Heritage Ottawa wrote to Cabinet Minister Lloyd Axworthy in 1995, encouraging his support for a conservation solution:
“These offers make economic sense both because they take the price of site clean-up off the hands of Public Works, and because they restore a building so it can be used again, thereby revitalizing the street and the neighboring community.”
A purchase offer of $320,000 by Sandy Smallwood of Andrex Holdings was accepted, putting an end to the continued deterioration of a prominent heritage landmark.
The Wallis House rehabilitation and conversion into 47 loft-style condominiums was designed by Julian Smith and Associates of Ottawa and Paul Merrick Architects of Vancouver. The project was financed by selling part of the property’s land to Domicile Developments for construction of 24 townhouses along Macdonald Gardens Park called Brigadier’s Walk, and to the City of Ottawa for construction of a 7-storey social housing apartment building, Lady Stanley Place, now owned by Ottawa Community Housing.
An advanced sale of the Wallis House Condominium saw all 46 units sold in under 36 hours.
The newly-rehabilitated Wallis House officially opened on October 19, 1996, introducing the trend of “loft living” in converted historic buildings to Ottawa.
The building remains a successful example of adaptive reuse. Read more here..click
Related reading
Union Almonte and Ramsay Contagious Hospital — “The Pest House”
Becoming a Nurse — Rosamond Memorial Hospital
Susie’s Kitchen Band– Names Names Names
Dark Moments in Ottawa History- Porter Island
So What was the Almonte Cottage Victorian Hospital?
lindaseccaspina 