An Old Row in the Glebe

     These row houses at 206-212 Queen Elizabeth Drive abut the eastern end of Pretoria Avenue (originally "Jane"). They were built some time between 1901 and 1908, and were originally numbered 560-566 Elgin Street. At some point, each house was divided into small(!!!) upstairs and downstairs apartments.
     City directories date the detached house on the left (214) to some time between 1916 and 1923 — (clearly, I'm not working with a full set.)

adapted from Goad, 1912

     Goad's sheet #147 from 1912 shows our row houses facing east onto Elgin. The little gap between the row and the duplex would eventually accommodate 214 Queen Elizabeth.
     This part of the Glebe was originally a strip of factories and working-class dwellings clustered along the CAR/GTR train tracks, now the Queensway. Notice the "Washing & Wringing Machine" factory on the left side of the plan. Buildings labeled  "lumber shed", "planing... finishing" and "dry kiln" remind us that our modern machines evolved from wooden washtubs. The Pretoria Avenue facility was replaced by a unified one-storey building housing a tile and marble works (DeSpirt early 1947, later Durie). It's now occupied by an animal hospital, a pet groomer and a door-and-window showroom.

Growing pains... February 8 1947, Ottawa Journal