A clapboard house at 124 Florence Street in 1956
Florence Street is so quiet that you can hear your footsteps softly patting against the sidewalk.
Although the residential and commercial street is pocketed between Percy Street and the ever-busy Bank Street, the clamour of downtown is only white noise in the background.
Every so often, a siren can be heard in the distance, a reminder of the city’s weekday chaos. However, except for the odd dog walker or a lone rumbling car, there is not much action on Florence.
The street’s name is a mystery.
There are no records to indicate why the street is named Florence. The street first appeared on an 1877 plan in the Land Registry Office, but there is no indication on the document as to the origin of the name. The owners of the land were James MacLaren, Charles Magee and Robert Blackburn, each of whom were prominent citizens with streets named after them.
Although her identity is unknown, it is most likely that Florence was the wife or daughter of a prominent figure in Ottawa, according to the city archive.
The historic homes on Florence Street seem squeezed together, but each with their own unique personalities. One house, built in 1912 by champion hurdler and snowshoe racer Alfred G. Sykes, was purchased and restored in 1975 by one of Canada’s most honoured photographers, Paul Couvrette.
Near the Chinese Community Centre is a childcare centre, three stories high and topped with a steeply pointed roof. Wrapped around the outside wall, on the veranda, is a chalkboard, scribbled with drawings.
It only takes a leisurely, 15-minute to cover Florence’s four-block distance from dead-end to dead-end. The street is like the calm before the storm of Bank Street, where a much busier world emerges.