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Jaan Kolk shares a story and a photo of Ottawa's main hotel, prior to the construction of the Chateau Laurier -- the Russell House on the southeast corner of Elgin and Sparks.
Writes Jaan:Here is a view I had not seen before: the east end of the Russell House Block from Sappers Bridge, ca. 1875. The road leading down to the left was known as Canal West or West Canal. The two businesses seen - Alph. J. Steers & Co. Commission Merchants and Henderson & Co. Stationers - are listed at that location in the 1875 directory, and Alph. Steers ran ads in the Citizen 1875-76.
The photo was included (for reasons unclear) in a City of Ottawa "Travel Through Time" page about the origins of Winterlude that was linked by Victoria Edwards in a comment on the Winter Carnival post Sunday. The filename of the image suggested it might be from City of Ottawa Archives CA025412, and that appears to be the case. CA025412 is described as a collection of proofs for advertisements in the Canada Gazette 1872-1875 with photos by Topley, and Alph. J. Steers & Co. appears in the list. This looks like one of the many business advertisement photos taken by Topley in 1875 that can be found at LAC, but I can't find this particular one there.
We knew the Steers family years ago when we were members of the Rideau Tennis Club.
When the Russell burned down in the 20s, my father and a buddy were in the ruins and were sent packing by a local constable. He loved remembering that story❤