A stone frigate in downtown Ottawa?

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So, what’s up with that boarded up historic house behind City Hall?

Mid March, I biked by 78 Lisgar, on my way to a retirement party of probably Ottawa’s longest serving cycling planner at the City of Ottawa, Robin Bennett. Thank you Robin, for all the work you have done.

I had parked the bike in the City Hall garage and walked over to the party on Cartier (for the record, we paid for our own drinks). When crossing Lisgar, I saw this beautiful house boarded up. I vaguely remembered there was some military connection, but I never paid attention. So I looked it up. And I learned something.

Charles Delamere Magee

The building and the building next door on 66 Lisgar were built by Ottawa businessman, founder of the Bank of Ottawa and city councillor Charles Delamere Magee (1840-1918) in 1896 (I have also read 1895 and 1898). He lived there until his death in 1918. It was then taken by his son, Frederick Magee, who resided there until his death in 1942. The houses stayed in the families until the 1940s.

The Department of Defence bought the houses to create a depot ‘ship’ to allow RCN personnel in Ottawa, ON, to be paid and called the house the HMSC Bytown.

But hang on. Doesn’t HMCS stand for Her/His Majesty’s Canadian Ship?

It does.

Ship for accounting purposes

All uniformed personnel needed to be borne on the books of a ‘ship’ for accounting purposes, even if they were serving at a shore establishment. This is a tradition held over from the Royal Navy, and these ships are often referred to as ‘Stone Frigates.’ HMCS Bytown served in this role for the Naval Service Headquarters (NSHQ) and the Ottawa Half-Company, the Naval Reserve Division that became HMCS Carleton on 1 November 1941.

In 1943 steps were taken by the then Captain H.G. DeWolf, RCN, to establish a unique Naval Officers’ Mess. By letters patent dated 12 May 1943, a non-profit corporation without share capital was established under the Corporation Act of the Province of Ontario. The corporation, known as HMCS BYTOWN Officers’ Mess incorporated purchased the property and building at 78 Lisgar Street with a loan from the Navy League of Canada.

Staunchly naval institution

While Bytown would be paid off in 1964, its name is carried on by the Mess. The Mess has managed to stay a “staunchly naval institution despite several efforts to form a single officers’ mess for all three elements of the Canadian Armed Forces”.

Cultural heritage value of the Magee House

“The Magee House’s cultural heritage value lies in its being an excellent example of the Queen Anne Revival style popular at the end of the 19th century and frequently used for the houses of the wealthy. It was designed by Toronto architect Mathew Sheard and, typical of the Queen Anne Revival, features an irregular plan with a cross gable roof, projecting bays, and a rich profusion of wooden details including carved bracketed bargeboards, shingles in the gable end, and a dentilled cornice. The building also features a rich assortment of window types, a two storey gabled bay with decorative bargeboard, and two chimneys with brick details that are repeated in the string courses. It is one of a pair of Queen Anne Revival houses on Lisgar Street (66 and 78).”

But the house wasn’t kept up, which prompted the HMCS Bytown to turn it over to the Crown in 2022.

Magee house in disrepair

The building had been falling into disrepair for years already, and there were no funds available to do necessary work, such as roof repair. The true extent and number of issues, however, were unknown.

Real Property (RP) Operations quickly did urgent repair and risk mitigation upon assuming responsibility for the building. Chimneys that were structurally failing were removed and tarps were placed on the roof. The roof itself was found to be too far gone structurally to be shingled and needs, likely, full structural replacement. The building failed fire code inspection. The mess thus lost their liquor license due to lack of fire suppression in the building.

Newspaper insulation for the Magee house

“The insulation between the kitchen and the dining areas is sawdust and newspaper – a common practice in building of this vintage – but a fire hazard. The floor on the second story is soft and structurally unsound, requiring repair. The stairs are also suffering structural fatigue. HVAC is failing and will require new lines – this means opening walls that could lead to further discoveries. The steel waste water line is cracked and leaking grey water, rendering the bar and kitchen sinks no longer useable. The issues continued with rats, vermin and their waste in the building. Then there is water damage, and a yet to be received designated substance report.”

This adds up to about $10 million of needed repairs and a building the Mess can’t currently use. So they moved out and now it is probably waiting for funding to be restored.

I found this information on the following websites and merged the several texts into this blog.

https://www.canada.ca/en/navy/services/history/ships-histories/bytown.html

TEMPORARILY SPEAKING | Urbsite

https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/en/oha/details/file?id=12879

https://www.hmcsventure.com/LatestNews/HMCS%20Bytown%20Status.html)