Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee, Ottawa: A Guide to Heritage Structures, City of Ottawa, 2000.
This book chronicles locally designated heritage buildings and sites and has several sections that highlight Lowertown buildings. The introduction emphasizes how the conservation of heritage character is key to retaining Ottawa’s unique sense of place at the same time as contributing to its economic prosperity. Our Byward Market and Lowertown West Heritage Conservation Districts are to be reassessed over the next year and this book provides some examples of the variety of built heritage that makes Lowertown special.
Lowertown has an interesting example of uniqueness combined with business in this month’s business profile in the Echo. FrouFrou and the other small shops in the yellow painted stucco building at 153-161 York Street are in a heritage designated frame structure called Brown Tenements. The building is described in the book as the only remaining dwelling of this style in Lowertown, one with roots in the vernacular Georgian tradition.
The two-storey frame structure was built in stages between 1865 and 1875. It probably began as a single family detached house for Archibald Brown and his growing family. If you look closely, you will see that the west section has larger windows and a central entrance with a transom over the door. In the 1860s, Brown was a saloon and restaurant keeper in various locations in the Byward market area. Records suggest that the house was auctioned away in 1866 and the east side of the carriageway gradually developed for additional dwellings.