By Michel Rossignol
Shortly after arriving in Ottawa in the early 1930s, Yousuf Karsh met the most famous photographers working in Ottawa at that time such as William Topley and J.-A. Castonguay. When he met Karsh in June 1933, Castonguay took a few portraits of the soon to become famous portraitist. Early in his career, Karsh had a studio on Sparks Street before moving to the Chateau Laurier a few years later, but in the 1930s, Castonguay was the best known photographer in Lowertown.
Between 1860 and 1900, Topley and many other photographers opened studios on Spark Street in the hopes of attracting business from the numerous parliamentarians on Parliament Hill. For the same reason, others picked locations in Lowertown on Rideau Street and Sussex Drive. Some photographers had little luck in attracting business and soon closed their studios. Others were much more successful and became the most prominent photographers in the city between 1900 and 1950. John G. Topley, William’s brother, was one of those who had a studio in Lowertown in the 1920s and 1930s. He had a studio at 164 Rideau while William Charron, who among other things took photos of the fire in the Parliament Building in 1916, had one across the street at 155 Rideau near Dalhousie.
Probably the most successful photographer was Jules-Alexandre Castonguay. After opening studios on Murray Street and Sussex Drive, he finally moved to 331 Dalhousie where he worked for many decades before “retiring” in 1949. Castonguay was born in Vaudreuil, Quebec, in 1877 and shortly after arriving in Ottawa around 1901, he discovered that he could make money taking photographs, even though he had never taken any photography courses. Over the years, more and more parliamentarians as well as many residents of Lowertown relied on him when they needed to have their photos taken. As a result, Library and Archives Canada now has thousands of his photos. Castonguay also took many photos of events and buildings in Lowertown which, together with those of Champlain Marcil and Michel Lafleur who followed in his footsteps, are precious souvenirs of our community’s history.