Red brick houses line almost all of Delaware Avenue in Centretown’s so-called Golden Triangle.
Red brick houses line almost all of Delaware Avenue in Centretown’s so-called Golden Triangle. Most of these large homes are unremarkable and look much the same. But they stand like the trees in a well-tended old forest, thick with rings and a shared history that is in itself remarkable.
The avenue was named after the Delaware Indian Confederacy of three Algonquin tribes: the Munsee, Unami, and Unalachtigo.
For visitors to Delaware, the only reminder of this history is its name. The avenue's visible link to the past is entirely unrelated.
As you reach the corner of Delaware and Queen Elizabeth Drive, the classic red brick is interrupted by a cream-coloured mansion, punctuated by a terracotta roof and a similarly coloured statue on its front lawn.
A red, blue and orange flag flaps in front of the Armenian Embassy, which became a designated heritage building in 2007.
The mansion, built in 1907, overlooks the Rideau Canal on the other side of Queen Elizabeth.
Originally constructed in the Spanish colonial revival style, it was first a private residence, then housed government offices and foreign missions.
The “Armenia Immortal” monument, the top of which is carved in the image of a woman, adorns the front lawn of the embassy. And each year, on the April 24, the statue becomes a memorial shrine; flowers and wreaths are placed at its base to commemorate the Armenian genocide.
Walking past parked cars, recycling bins, classic brick houses and an old Spanish colonial mansion leaves visitors with a juxtaposed impression of modern city life and life a generation or more ago.