Laurier House National Historic Site of Canada

The Leslie Years

An advertisement for Mr. Leslie's jewelshop
©Mitchell & Co.'s Ottawa City and Carleton County Directory 1864 - 65

In 1850, John Leslie, a prosperous Ottawa jeweller, bought a piece of land on the outskirts of Ottawa, in an area that came to be known as Sandy Hill. When Ottawa became the capital of the new Dominion of Canada in 1867, Sandy Hill grew in importance and prestige. Because it was close to the business and political centre of the city, wealthy Ottawa families and senior civil servants found it a desirable neighbourhood in which to live.

John Leslie left his property vacant until the late 1870s when he finally decided to have a house built. He chose the Second Empire Style, popular in North America at the time for public buildings and houses. The Leslie family moved into their fine, new home in 1879. John Leslie died in 1895 and his widow in the next year.

Leslie Family circa 1876. Front row: John Sr., Eliza, father of John or Eliza
Back Row: John Jr., James, Jane.
©National Archives of Canada / Topley E25236

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