180 Metcalfe Street

 Of this Art Deco gem, Robert Smythe writes (Centretown Buzz, 24 July 2015)...

"...The Medical Arts Building (designed by architects Noffke, Sylvester and Morin in 1928) is the quintessential 1920s skyscraper in miniature. It was built, owned and managed by a holding company—the principal shareholders of which were the doctors themselves.
The 50 medical offices were quickly filled. On-site services included two surgery suites, a radiology clinic, pharmacy and branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Although it was designed to have an extension of a further three floors, with the intervening Great Depression and World War II this never happened..."

 You can read Robert's complete article here. He addresses the bizarre attempts to incorporate this six storey building into a 27 storey office/condo/hotel whatever.

Roderick Lahey / Toth Equity, via the Ottawa Citizen

 I recently found another unnerving story, set at the Medical Arts Building, dating from spring of 1947 — shades of The Bad Seed. The following Ottawa Journal article is lightly edited for style. I have redacted the names and the address of the victim and her family to protect their privacy.

Ottawa Boy Causes Grave Injury to Infant in Fall From Ledge
Pulls Child from Carriage and She Suffers Fractured Skull

   Pulled out of her carriage by an eight-year-old boy in front of the Medical Arts Building, 180 Metcalfe street, at four o’clock yesterday afternoon and shoved from a four-and-a-half foot high cement ledge to the pavement below, eight-months-old _____, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. _____ of _____ street, is in the Civic Hospital suffering from a skull fracture and shock.
   Civic Hospital authorities said this morning the baby’s condition was “still quite serious”. Full extent of her injuries would not be determined until examination was completed and X-rays taken.
   Meanwhile, employees at the Medical Arts Building said the boy who was seen to remove the child from her carriage and drop her from the ledge had returned to his home.
   The incident occurred in full view of a number of persons who happened to be in the vicinity at the time.
   Mrs. _____, the child’s mother, had carefully placed the carriage near the main door to the building, up three steps onto a platform, having taken precaution to leave it in such a position that it was shielded by one of the large cement blocks fronting the right side of the entrance.
   Returning a short time later Mrs. _____ saw the carriage was empty. Rushing into the building she asked at the information  desk if anyone know where her baby was.
   She was informed that a child had been injured and had been taken up to Dr. W. E. Caven’s office in the building. Hurrying to Dr. Caven’s office she learned what had happened and Dr. C, K. Rowan-Legg, who had previously attended the child, was summoned and ordered its removal to the hospital. At the hospital, Dr. H. T. R. Mount, brain specialist, examined the child and reported a fracture of the skull.
   What prompted the boy to molest the baby is not know. Mrs. E. R. Lyon, 564 Brierwood avenue, Westboro, said she was walking past the Medical Arts Building when she  heard unusual cries coming from the carriage near the entrance to the building.
   “Having had children of my own, I can tell when a baby’s crying means something”. Mrs. Lyon told The Journal.
   She then stated how she had gone to the carriage to see what she could do. “There was a small boy standing near the carriage”, she said, “and i thought he was the child’s brother.
   “I bent over the carriage, adjusted the baby’s bonnet and straightened the covers. While I was doing this, the boy pushed his hands into the carriage as if to grab the baby. I asked him where his mother was and he replied ‘not in there’. pointing to the Medical Arts Building.
   “The baby had stopped crying and I started to walk away. I had only gone a short distance when I heard cries again. Looking around I saw the boy put his hands in the carriage, pick up the baby, place it on the cement block and push it off.”

   Mrs. Lyon said she rushed back, picked up the baby from the pavement and hurried with it in her arms into the building. She saw some other people grab the boy, but that was the last she saw of him.

    Falling about four and a half feet, the baby girl landed on her head. At the hospital it was determined that no bones [other than the skull] were broken and the infant never lost consciousness. She apparently suffers no pain except when pressure there is pressure on the large bump on her head.
   Mrs. _____, the child’s mother, said it would be difficult for anyone to snatch the baby from the carriage, as she had carefully tucked the coverings around the child and had fastened the safety strap.