HERITAGE HEROES

The City of Ottawa recently rewarded those looking to save and restore Ottawa’s built heritage with their biennial Heritage Awards. Among the winners was the Embassy of Estonia, for their restoration of an old stone house at 168 Daly Ave. in Sandy Hill. Work done by RMA+SH Architects saw the building stripped of additions built up over the years and added a porch and porte-cochère, in keeping with original designs, while incorporating contemporary security needs.

Over the river in Gatineau at Zibi, on the former E.B. Eddy site, the jury recognized the Beater Building, one of only two buildings that remain as witnesses to the industrial nature of the former paper mill. The project, handled by Hobin Architecture, Fotenn Planning + Design, Zibi, Theia Partners, and Eddy Lands Construction celebrates the site’s industrial significance while honouring the traditional Algonquin Anishinaabe territory on which it stands. Red brick on the south and east façades from the 1900s remained largely intact, while the new west- and north-facing exteriors feature a modern industrial style with black metal siding and swaths of glass.

Most surprising is a heritage award for a new building. A winner in the infill category, the red brick units at 189 Stanley Ave. are front-to-back semi-detached homes, on a wide lot. Praised by the jury for its “contextual urban design, material palette, and stylistic gestures, all of which take their cues from the neighbourhood,” this infill development is proof that densification and visual compatibility are achievable goals.