Sandy Hill
Encyclopedia
Sandy Hill is a bilingual neighbourhood in Ottawa
, Ontario
located just east of downtown. The neighbourhood is bordered on the west by the Rideau Canal
and on the east by the Rideau River
. To the north it stretches to Rideau Street
and the Byward Market
area while to the south it is bordered by the Queensway
highway and Nicholas Street
. The area is named for its hilliness, caused by the river, and its sandy soil, which makes it difficult to erect large buildings. It is home to a number of embassies, residences and parks. Le cordon bleu
operates its Canadian school there, at the opposite end of Sandy Hill from the University of Ottawa
.
Sandy Hill's population as of 2006 was roughly 12,078 residents.
,
who donated part of this land to University of Ottawa
, it was subdivided and
became home to most of Ottawa's lumber barons. When Ottawa became the country's capital, it became home to senior public servants and to the Prime Minister
who lived at Stadacona Hall and later at what is now known as Laurier House
.
The construction of bridges over the canal and the introduction of automobile
s and streetcars made the area much closer to downtown, and it began to decline as the very wealthy moved to Rockcliffe Park
. The neighbourhood became much denser and more middle class
. It was predominantly francophone, and the 1960s Radio-Canada
television network drama "La Côte de Sable" was set there, to this day the network's only drama set outside Quebec.
The area saw much growth at the end of the Second World War as the baby boom
increased the population and the nearby federal government began hiring. Many of the once grand mansions became embassies. Many nations still have their embassies in Sandy Hill, including those of Russia
and of many Africa
n nations, which are clustered near the Rideau River. Its population dropped by 30% in the '60s and '70s as families fled the dismal urban planning. Currently, there are many students living in the area due to its proximity to the University of Ottawa.
The Sandy Hill area is split about equally between the English
speaking and the francophone
population, with large communities from Somalia
, Lebanon
, and Haiti
. The area is very close to downtown, especially to the Rideau Centre
, a large downtown shopping mall. The area is well served by mass transit and the transitway
passes by the university.
Sandy Hill is often divided into four areas. North Sandy Hill consists of the area north of Laurier Avenue. This part of the neighbourhood is much older with many of its buildings dating from the nineteenth century. The area is subject to the influences of more recent developments on the thoroughfare of Rideau Street
. South of Laurier is South Sandy Hill largely built after the Second World War, though there are a number of much older structures. The far south of neighbourhood below Mann Avenue is an area known as Strathcona Heights. This area is much smaller geographically than the other two but is as densely populated. It consists almost entirely of low-rise apartment buildings that are either subsidised housing or co-operatives. This area was completely redeveloped in the early 1990s. The area below the Strathcona Heights escarpment, near the Rideau River, is known as Robinson village. It was cut off from other neighbourhoods when highways were built, and contains low-rise houses and light industrial uses.
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
located just east of downtown. The neighbourhood is bordered on the west by the Rideau Canal
Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...
and on the east by the Rideau River
Rideau River
thumb|Rapids on the Rideau River opposite [[Carleton University]].The Rideau River is a Southern Ontario river which flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 km...
. To the north it stretches to Rideau Street
Rideau Street
Rideau Street is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district...
and the Byward Market
Byward Market
ByWard Market is a district in Lower Town located east of the government & business district, surrounding the market buildings and open-air market on George, York, ByWard and William Streets.The district is bordered on the west by Sussex Drive, on the...
area while to the south it is bordered by the Queensway
Queensway (Ottawa)
The Queensway is a major controlled-access freeway running through Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from Kanata in the west to Orleans in the east. It is the primary east-west transportation artery in the Ottawa-Gatineau area....
highway and Nicholas Street
Nicholas Street
Nicholas Street is an arterial road in the central area of Ottawa, Ontario which connects Highway 417 with the downtown core.The southern section of the road is a freeway between the Queensway interchange and Laurier Avenue intersection...
. The area is named for its hilliness, caused by the river, and its sandy soil, which makes it difficult to erect large buildings. It is home to a number of embassies, residences and parks. Le cordon bleu
Le Cordon Bleu
Le Cordon Bleu is the world's largest hospitality education institution, with 35 schools on five continents serving 20,000 students annually. Its primary education focus is on hospitality management and the culinary arts...
operates its Canadian school there, at the opposite end of Sandy Hill from the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
.
Sandy Hill's population as of 2006 was roughly 12,078 residents.
History
Sandy Hill was, during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, Ottawa's wealthiest neighbourhood. Originally the estate of Louis-Théodore BessererLouis-Théodore Besserer
Louis-Théodore Besserer was a businessman, notary and political figure in Lower Canada.He was born at Château-Richer, Quebec in 1785. He studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec and later became a notary. During the War of 1812, he was a lieutenant in the Quebec City militia, later becoming captain...
,
who donated part of this land to University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
, it was subdivided and
became home to most of Ottawa's lumber barons. When Ottawa became the country's capital, it became home to senior public servants and to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
who lived at Stadacona Hall and later at what is now known as Laurier House
Laurier House
Laurier House is a National Historic Site of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located at 335 Laurier Avenue East . It was formerly the residence of two Canadian Prime Ministers, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William Lyon Mackenzie King. The house was built in 1878, but had significant later alterations...
.
The construction of bridges over the canal and the introduction of automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s and streetcars made the area much closer to downtown, and it began to decline as the very wealthy moved to Rockcliffe Park
Rockcliffe Park, Ontario
Rockcliffe Park is one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Ottawa, Ontario, and is one of the most prosperous enclaves in Canada. From 1926 until 2001 it was an independent village, but was amalgamated with the rest of the city January 1, 2001...
. The neighbourhood became much denser and more middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
. It was predominantly francophone, and the 1960s Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
television network drama "La Côte de Sable" was set there, to this day the network's only drama set outside Quebec.
The area saw much growth at the end of the Second World War as the baby boom
Baby boom
A baby boom is any period marked by a greatly increased birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds and when the number of annual births exceeds 2 per 100 women...
increased the population and the nearby federal government began hiring. Many of the once grand mansions became embassies. Many nations still have their embassies in Sandy Hill, including those of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and of many Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n nations, which are clustered near the Rideau River. Its population dropped by 30% in the '60s and '70s as families fled the dismal urban planning. Currently, there are many students living in the area due to its proximity to the University of Ottawa.
Geography
Unusual among modern urban neighbourhoods, Sandy Hill demographics change dramatically within a few blocks. Very wealthy people live near the embassies of the Rideau River, but closer to the university, one finds more students, more senior citizens, more new immigrants with more diversified income levels. Housing in the western end of Sandy Hill living includes boarding houses, student rental housing, modest privately-owned homes and cooperative housing. For example, on Henderson Avenue, a historically Irish working-class sector of Sandy Hill, there are two Housing Cooperatives: Sandy Hill Housing Coop and St. Georges Housing Cooperative / la Coopérative d'habitation St Georges, a bilingual, multicultural coop, with residents who come from Canada, with neighbours newly arrived from Ghana, DR Congo, Morocco, Rwanda, Burundi, Poland and several Middle Eastern countries. These Coops not only provided attractive low-rise multi-housing mixed income communities but also contributed to the restoration of the heritage homes on this street and won awards for their contribution to Sandy Hill's heritage restoration.The Sandy Hill area is split about equally between the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
speaking and the francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
population, with large communities from Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
. The area is very close to downtown, especially to the Rideau Centre
Rideau Centre
Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....
, a large downtown shopping mall. The area is well served by mass transit and the transitway
Ottawa Rapid Transit
In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the public transit service operated by OC Transpo has two rapid transit systems: the Transitway, a bus rapid transit network, and the O-Train, a diesel-powered light rail transit service operated on one line.-Major routes:...
passes by the university.
Sandy Hill is often divided into four areas. North Sandy Hill consists of the area north of Laurier Avenue. This part of the neighbourhood is much older with many of its buildings dating from the nineteenth century. The area is subject to the influences of more recent developments on the thoroughfare of Rideau Street
Rideau Street
Rideau Street is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district...
. South of Laurier is South Sandy Hill largely built after the Second World War, though there are a number of much older structures. The far south of neighbourhood below Mann Avenue is an area known as Strathcona Heights. This area is much smaller geographically than the other two but is as densely populated. It consists almost entirely of low-rise apartment buildings that are either subsidised housing or co-operatives. This area was completely redeveloped in the early 1990s. The area below the Strathcona Heights escarpment, near the Rideau River, is known as Robinson village. It was cut off from other neighbourhoods when highways were built, and contains low-rise houses and light industrial uses.
Notable sites
- Laurier HouseLaurier HouseLaurier House is a National Historic Site of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located at 335 Laurier Avenue East . It was formerly the residence of two Canadian Prime Ministers, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William Lyon Mackenzie King. The house was built in 1878, but had significant later alterations...
- University of OttawaUniversity of OttawaThe University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
- Strathcona ParkStrathcona Park (Ottawa)Strathcona Park is a large park in Ottawa, Canada. It lies on the west bank of the Rideau River and marks the eastern edge of the Sandy Hill neighbourhood....
- Heritage Canada, 5 Blackburn
- Amnesty International, Canadian headquarters
Notable residents
By virtue of its proximity to Parliament Hill, many past residents of Sandy Hill have been politicians.- Ed BroadbentEd BroadbentJohn Edward "Ed" Broadbent, is a Canadian social democratic politician and political scientist. He was leader of the federal New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 2004 federal election, he returned to Parliament for one additional term as the Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre.-Life...
- NDP Leader - Max KeepingMax KeepingWinston Maxwell Keeping, CM, O.Ont, D.U., LLD known as Max Keeping, is a Canadian broadcaster. He is the former Vice-President of news and public affairs at CJOH where he was anchor of the local evening news broadcast from 1972 until his retirement in 2010...
- Television News Anchor - William Lyon Mackenzie KingWilliam Lyon Mackenzie KingWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
- Prime Minister - Wilfrid LaurierWilfrid LaurierSir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
- Prime Minister - John A. MacdonaldJohn A. MacdonaldSir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
- Prime Minister - Elizabeth SmartElizabeth Smart (author)Elizabeth Smart was a Canadian poet and novelist. Her book, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, detailed her romance with the poet George Barker...
- Author - Kurt WaldheimKurt WaldheimKurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992...
- UN Secretary General, Austrian Ambassador to Canada - Alexander YakovlevAlexander Nikolaevich YakovlevAlexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev was a Soviet politician and historian who was a Soviet governmental official in the 1980s and a member of the Politburo and Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union...
- so-called 'Godfather of Glasnost'
Embassies
The large homes built by the lumber barons are today popular locations for embassies and many countries are represented in the neighbourhood:- AlgeriaEmbassy of Algeria in OttawaThe Algerian Embassy in Canada is the embassy of Algeria in Ottawa, Canada. It is located in the Fleck/Paterson House in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa. It is located at 500 Wilbrod and looks out on the Rideau River.- History :...
(Fleck/Paterson House) - Angola
- Austria
- Brazil
- Brunei DarussalamHigh Commission of Brunei Darussalam in OttawaThe High Commission of Brunei Darussalam in Canada is currently located in Ottawa, Canada, in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood at 395 Laurier Avenue East in the building known as Stadacona Hall.-Stadacona Hall:...
(Stadacona Hall) - Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Croatia (Toller House)
- Gabon
- Guinea
- Jamaican embassy in ottawa
- Kenya
- Mali
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Niger
- Pakistan
- Poland
- Russia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Sudan
- Switzerland
- Tanzania
- Togo
- UgandaHigh Commission of Uganda in OttawaThe Ugandan High Commission in Ottawa is the high commission of Uganda in Ottawa, Canada. It is located at 231 Cobourg St. in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa, near to several other embassies. The building is a converted coach house once associated with one of large manors in the area, that...
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
Churches
- All Nations Church
- All Saints Anglican Church
- Eglise Sacré-Coeur
- St. Alban's Anglican ChurchSt. Alban's Anglican Church (Ottawa)St. Albans Anglican Church is an Anglican parish in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa, Canada. It is Ottawa's oldest surviving church building and one of its most historic. The original Gothic Revival design for the church was done by Thomas Fuller, who also designed Canada's original...
- St. Clement Catholic ChurchSt. Clement Catholic Church (Ottawa)St. Clement Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic parish church located in Ottawa, Canada. It is a Traditional Catholic church serving a mixed English and French speaking parish community. The parish also maintains a strong connection to St. Clement Academy . -History:The story of St...
- St. Paul's-Eastern United Church
- St. Joseph's Catholic Church