Convent and Mother House of the Grey Nuns of the Cross

Other Events and Attributes:

• City Directories: 1949, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Notes:

Elisabeth-Bruyère Hospital
9 Bruyère Street, 25-43 Bruyère Street, 75 Bruyère Street
Sister Elisabeth Bruyère and other members of the order of Grey Nuns arrived in Bytown in February 1845, after a thrity-four-hour trek from Montreal, to care for the sick. Their tiny infirmary and orphanage grew to became the Ottawa General Hospital. The first portion of the sturdy stone motherhouse stands at the corner. The two-faced sundial on its southwest corner, Ottawa's first public timepiece, was installed by geometer Father Jean-François Allard in 1851. The second portion of the hospital was built in 1865 at Sussex Drive and Cathcart Street, as St. Joseph's Orphanage. The two were eventually linked in 1883-85. A top storey and eastern addition with an impressive chapel were added in 1935-37. The south side, across from the motherhouse and hospital, is characteristic of turn-of-the-century Lowertown. Development was piecemeal, so houses and apartments of many shapes, sizes and ages stand cheek by jowl. 32-34 Bruyère is a well-preserved bourgeois duplex. Its early casement windows have been updated. 40 Bruyère (c. 1860s) is a half-storey cottage, a common house type in Lowertown. 56-62 Bruyère (1916) has recently been renovated but retains Victorian elements in its hexagonal corner projection and central gable.
Source: Exploring the Capital: Andrew Waldron; page 36

City Directories:
9 Bruyère Street
Ottawa. On.