Posted by: Kathy Krywicki
Update Sept. 3, 2011: While the City’s Built Heritage Advisory Committee did not recommend that 9 Rosedale Avenue be designated heritage at its Sept. 1 meeting, it “is recommending that city staff look into how an area that includes a strip of land near the canal between the Bank Street Bridge and Bronson Avenue could receive heritage protection”, according to a story in the Ottawa Citizen. See our original story below.
9 Rosedale Avenue Heritage Evaluation
Local neighbours of the recently sold property at 9 Rosedale Avenue have been investigating the potential for heritage designation of this property. The following heritage survey and evaluation has been provided the City of Ottawa. These forms are used to evaluate and score the cultural heritage of properties.
Nine Rosedale was built in 1930 for W. Frank Jones, general manager of the Ottawa Dairy. Its design is a bungalow type that shows the influence of the Arts and Craft style. The evaluation process assigns a score out of three in each of Design, History and Context and a minimum of 6/9 is required for designation to proceed. Nine Rosedale Avenue received 5.5/9.
Anyone with any additional information or comments on the property is invited to contact the heritage planning staff at City of Ottawa to provide an update to this record.
HERITAGE SURVEY AND EVALUATION FORM | |||||||||||
| Address | 9 Rosedale Avenue | Building name | |||||||||
| Construction date | 1930 | Original owner | W. Frank Jones | ||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| PHASE ONE EVALUATION | |||||||||||
| Potential significance | Considerable | Some | Limited | None | |||||||
| Design | 2 | ||||||||||
| History | 1.5 | ||||||||||
| Context | 2 | ||||||||||
| Phase One Score | 5.5 / 9 | ||||||||||
| Phase Two Classification | 1 |
2 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
Design or Physical Value | prepared by: Sally Coutts |
| month/year May 2011 | |
| Architecture (style, building type, expression, material, construction method) | |
| Nine Rosedale is a one and a half storey, yellow brick structure with a flared side gable roof. Its front door is asymmetrically placed, and has an entablature and a curved pediment that extends through the eaves. The actual door surround features engaged pilasters. The front façade also features three leaded glass casement windows to the north of the door and two to the south. There are similar windows on each façade. The gable ends (north and south facades) feature paired sash windows and there are dormer window on the east and west sides of the roof. .
Stylistically, the building can be described as bungalow type with Arts and Crafts details. The Arts and Crafts is not technically a style, but rather a movement. Its followers urged a return to the fine craftsmanship and materials used in domestic architecture prior to the Industrial Revolution. Features of the house often associated with the Arts and Crafts are the leaded glass casement windows, low profile and finely crafted windows and doors. The house is missing some details that would make it a true example of a Bungalow (a front verandah, overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails and true one-storey construction), nevertheless its distinctive form and massing was clearly influenced by the popularity of the form at that time. | |
| Craftsmanship/Artistic merit | |
| The house is well crafted and features original oak trim, window frames and door.
The interior features oak floors, window and door trim and other interior features typical of the era. Sources state that the wood for the floors was milled from oak trees felled on the Anderson Dairy Farm but this has not been verified. | |
| Technical/Scientific merit | |
| N/A | |
| Summary | |
| Nine Rosedale Avenue is a well-crafted one and a half storey structure influenced by the Bungalow style and Arts and Crafts movement. Its casement style, leaded glass windows and distinguished front door are character-defining elements.
| |
| Sources | |
| Ricketts, Maitland and Hucker, A Guide to Canadian Architectural Styles,
Blumenson, John, Ontario Architecture, a Guide to Styles and Building Terms, 1784 to the present | |
Historical and Associative Value | prepared by Sally Coutts |
| month/year | |
| Date of construction (factual/estimated) | 1930 |
| Themes/Events/Persons/Institutions | |
| Mr. W. Frank Jones, Manager of the Ottawa Dairy, built the house circa 1930. Jones arrived in Canada from Great Britain in 1910 and attended the Ontario School of Agriculture after serving in the First World War. He graduated in the early 1920s and moved to Ottawa to work for the Department of Agriculture in dairy manufacturing. In 1928 he left the government to work for the Chateau Cheese Company, eventually becoming the General Manager of the Ottawa Dairy Company in 1929. At the time of his appointment he lived on Second Avenue, so it is assumed that he moved to 9 Rosedale shortly after becoming the General Manager. Jones went on to hold a number of positions in organizations related to the dairy industry in Canada, including president of the National Dairy Council.
  The house was subsequently occupied by a number of families and it operated as a Bed and Breakfast from 1990 until 2010. | |
| Community History | |
| Old Ottawa South developed slowly in the 19th century, with only a few houses constructed. In 1891 the streetcar on Bank Street reached Lansdowne Park, prompting some development at the north end of the neighbourhood. In 1907, the community was annexed to the City of Ottawa and in 1913 the streetcar service was extended south across the canal, prompting significant development in the area.
Nine Rosedale is located at the north end of the street, and is the last house before Colonel By Drive, a National Capital Commission driveway. It was pieced together from early settlement roads that ran beside the Canal. In 1920 the Ottawa Improvement Commission (precursor of the NCC) obtained a License of Occupation for the south bank of the canal between Bronson Avenue and Bank Street. The OIC then cleared the debris from the banks of the Canal, repaired the canal wall, and laid out walkways and flowerbeds beside the road. By 1930 the Driveway was complete from Bronson Avenue to the Pretoria Bridge. The emergence of the Driveway as an urban amenity prompted the development of attractive houses for the middle classes along its length. Nine Rosedale is one such house. | |
| Designer/Architect | |
| Not known | |
| Summary | |
| Nine Rosedale Avenue reflects the growth of Ottawa South as a neighbourhood in the early decades of the 20th century. This growth was prompted by the arrival of the streetcar and the improvement of the banks of the canal by the Ottawa Improvement Commission. The life and career in the dairy industry of Frank Jones, the original owner, illustrates the emergence of Ottawa South as the home of successful businessmen and public servants. | |
| Sources | |
| Landon French, “Cultural Landscapes Project, The Parkway System: Historical Study (NCC, 1995)
Old Ottawa South History Project Ottawa Citizen, various years | |
Interiors
Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act gives municipalities the authority to designate individual properties with design, historical or contextual value. A property may have design value if it is an example of a particular style or building type; it may have historical value if it is associated with a theme, event, person or institution significant to the community’s history or was designed by a significant designer; and it may have contextual value if is a landmark, contributes to the community’s character. Designation protects buildings from demolition and unsympathetic alterations.
Information on heritage designation is available on the City of Ottawa website. In addition, the Province of Ontario has prepared a heritage toolkit which explains how the heritage conservation process works and how to research historic buildings.