Demolitions - 4 April 2009

[dewline]

Demolitions - 4 April 2009
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

This used to be the home of Hobbyhouse before they moved to Vanier. The store had an awkward layout, but it was a cool shop to visit between the model kits, the role-playing games and the military history books.

They dropped the RPG stuff, but it's still a cool store.

A shame about this building, though.

Comments

[radargrrl.livejournal.com]

Hobbyhouse used to be a frequent stop for me when I was a kid. I was always lusting after model trains and Meccano sets that I could never afford. It later became a coffee shop. I also remember the space currently occupied by the Suisha Gardens Japanese Restaurant was a mom-and-pop grocery store called Slater Foods. I also remember going with my sister to the Zellers on Sparks to pick up a jar of soap for blowing bubbles, and another place across from the grocery called Dempsey's Delicatessen. All gone now. The things you remember...

It's very sad to see this old lady disappear. Did they take down the dilapidated computer shop next door as well? What's going up in its place? Yet another nondescript office block, I presume.

The building behind it is (or was) the Howard Johnsons hotel. When I moved to Ottawa in 1972, it was called the Berkeley Savoy and it was home for my family and I for our first month in Ottawa. We had the sixth floor corner suite, kitchen and all, right under the blue sign that's just visible.

Thanks for posting the pic. It all seems so long ago now.

Memories and sadness.

[mencc1701.livejournal.com]

Rendering of the building to go up

Personally, I think it should be a fabulous addition to the site, if it comes out like it should. It's a shame about the building that hosted the O'Conner Smoke Shop, that was a nice old building, but on the rest of the site, it's replacing a couple of poorly built old strip-mall-esque developments and a surface parking lot. Overall, it's a nice- and distinctive-looking building replacing low-density development and a parking lot in the middle of our downtown core, exactly the kind of development Ottawa needs.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Seeing as Computer Supplyhouse, the yoga studio and Delta Reprographics had already found new quarters elsewhere in Centretown, the demolition of their old digs along with what little merchandise and furnishings they left behind seems a foregone conclusion. I'll be in Centretown tomorrow(albeit without camera), so I'll try to remember to check on that.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

What's supposed to be going into that building?

While we're at it, who designed it?

[mencc1701.livejournal.com]

Export Development Canada, I believe?

And according to the article I saw, Beique, Legault, Thuot Architects. It will have a LEED Gold certification, 403,000 sq. ft of office space, 14,000 sq. feet of commercial space, even indoor bike parking. It's a pretty impressive-looking project. Supposed to be finished by 2011.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

EDC? Don't they already have a building across from the Esplanade? Or is it that they expanded into the one directly north across Laurier from it, and that's finally forced some issues?

I'd be interested in any article linkage you can share on the subject in any case. The LEED Gold certification sounds like a good thing for any new building to have[*], ditto for the bike parking.

[*] - Yep, I read that issue of Metropolis. I think I still have it buried in the basement "archives" somewhere.

And the old Computer Supplyhouse Building?

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's gone. I'm sorry for that, too.

I'd never, ever seen the basement of that place until the demolition.

[mencc1701.livejournal.com]

They do, but they're spread across two buildings right now, and I believe they want to consolidate into one bigger location.

And here's the project thread over on Skyscraper Page. Most of my information came from the article cited on the first page.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the linkage.

Good to see the anticipation/planning for the LRT option just in case...