By Diana Hart
After two years of planning and hoping, residents of Lorne Avenue took a giant step closer to their dream of protecting their street.
On Sept. 27, city council agreed to move forward with plans to designate part of the street, which sits at the edge of LeBreton Flats, as a heritage conservation district under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The residents of lower Lorne Avenue, situated off Albert Street with rows of little houses, have worked to preserve their home since 2004.
Luc Bédard and Jeffrey Cucksey, who have lived on the street for 8 years, helped organize their neighbours to lobby to get their street heritage status. Bédard says he decided to work with his neighbours because he worried Ottawa’s never-ending developments could ruin his street.
“The street has so much history. That’s why people choose to live here, because of the way it looks. We want to protect it,” he says.
The street’s colourful history started when the great fire of 1900 left a path of destruction from Hull to Ottawa, burning Lorne Avenue’s houses to the ground. The working-class people who lived on the street rebuilt their homes between 1900 and 1907, using brick and, in some cases, their buildings’ original foundations.
When the National Capital Commission redeveloped the properties in LeBreton Flats in the early 1960s, the NCC left Lorne Avenue alone. The street remained almost untouched, still resembling the way the workers of LeBreton Flats would have seen it at the beginning of the 20th century.
In 2004, Bédard and his neighbours approached the city with the plan to make the street a heritage conservation site.
Heritage conservation status means that while there can still be new developments on the street, property owners will need city council’s approval before demolishing any buildings and new buildings have to fit into the street’s design.
Lorne Avenue residents helped Carol Ruddy, a heritage planner with the City of Ottawa, with her report on the architectural and historical background of the street. Ruddy says she couldn’t be happier that the proposal sailed through city council.
“I’m so pleased with it. The street presents such an undisturbed example of the working-class world of Ottawa. It’s like a time capsule,” says Ruddy.
She says the street’s design is rare in Ottawa today. The two-storey, red brick houses, with their flat roofs and front porches are very similar to each other. Their architectural details are copied from a popular European style of the early 1900s, called “Italianate.”
Ruddy says the credit for the proposal’s success goes to Lorne Avenue’s residents, who spent much of their spare time researching the street to make the case to protect it.
“Jeffrey Cucksey and Luc Bédard did an amazing job at getting their neighbours on board that this was a good idea,” she says.
Bédard says his neighbours were happy to get involved with the street they love, having dinners to discuss their plans, signing petitions and going through years of research.
Coun. Diane Holmes says the residents’ teamwork was key to having their dream realized.
“The city’s heritage department is so small. With the residents getting involved, they made sure their street didn’t go to the bottom of the list of projects,” says Holmes, adding she hopes other streets will follow their example.
After years of research and public meetings, Lorne Avenue is not technically protected by the law yet.
Once the city’s lawyers create a bylaw to designate the street, there will be a 30-day period where the street’s residents can come forward if they have concerns. Bédard says he doubts there will be any.
“Everyone on the street was so involved, if there were any objections we would know by now,” he says.
Bédard says he is looking forward to when they are officially protected.
“As soon as we get the final approval, we are going to get the champagne flowing,” he says.