A Tree Grows in Spenceville

...several, in fact

   Clegg St. marks the southern boundary of Spenceville, now a part of Old Ottawa East. Established 1888, the Spenceville subdivision didn't see much development until 1895, and was largely built up by the 1920s. Newspapers mention Clegg at least as far back as 1923 — an Ottawa Journal  article reveals plans for a proposed OER streetcar line extension with a single-track loop along Main, Clegg, Glenora and Herridge.

   83 Clegg's concrete foundation and square footprint are in keeping with the Craftsman/Foursquare idiom that dated from the 1910s into the '30s, though the house is more modestly scaled and lacks the dormered roof half-storey that often marked the style. Originally, #83 would have looked south toward an expanse of pasture, hay-field and market garden, now the Rideau Garden(s) section of Old Ottawa South. That said, I'm really not sure when this house was built.

   A single-storey, rear-gabled extension was added to the back of the house some time after 1991. A 1931 aerial view seems to show a large broad-leaf tree (elm?) at the edge of the road. If so, the magnificent conifer (spruce? fir?) we see part of in the photo was likely planted after that date.

1886 Rideau Garden Drive

   Rideau Garden Drive borders the left bank of the Rideau River at the north end of Old Ottawa South. It was one of the last strips of land to be developed in that part of the neighbourhood, just before the George McIlraith Bridge was built.

   Constructed in the early 60s, ads for these 3, 4, and 5 bedroom "deluxe custom homes" began to appear in the late summer of 1962 and continued to run into early 1964. The Rideau Garden Drive development featured an assortment of period houses including low-slung bungalows, some with stylishly integrated garages and carports.  Split-levels like the one in our picture were also trending when Uri Gagarin orbited the earth (once!) and JFK sat in the White House.

   Rideau Garden Drive snakes through the middle of this 1965 aerial view — #1886 is circled in red. The McIlraith Bridge appears as a steel skeleton soon to join Main Street to Smyth Road. Materials from the City of Ottawa state that the bridge was "built" in 1964, but if this geoOttawa view is correctly dated, then '64 was at best the date that construction began.

   If there were any trees along the drive, they would have been "landscaped" saplings, nothing larger. Half a century later, Rideau Garden Drive is graced with many mature trees, blending nicely with the wooded shorline.