Brouse Building
Recognized Federal Heritage Building
Ottawa, Ontario
Brouse Building
(© CIHB/INHC, Parks Canada/Parcs Canada, 1985.)
Address :
181-183 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Ontario
Recognition Statute:
Treasury Board Policy on Management of Real Property
Designation Date:
1986-07-25
Dates:
-
1893 to 1893
(Construction)
Event, Person, Organization:
-
George F. Stalker, Architect, Ottawa
(Architect)
Custodian:
Public Works and Government Services Canada
FHBRO Report Reference:
85-28
DFRP Number:
08831 00
Description of Historic Place
The Brouse Building stands on the north side of Sparks Street in the core of the Ottawa business district. It is a striking, three-storey, red brick building with stone trim, distinguished by arched windows, sandstone columns and ornate, decorative brickwork. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Heritage Value
The Brouse Building is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.
Historical Value:
The Brouse Building is associated with the commercial development of Sparks Street westward towards Bank Street in the late-19th century. A speculative construction by Ottawa grocer Henry Brouse, its use over the years involved changing clientele and a number of shifts in function, for example as a hotel to retail space.
Architectural Value:
The Brouse Building is a very good example of an imaginative design combining Romanesque and Italian detailing. Its three-storey construction had been a popular configuration for commercial premises during earlier decades and this is a late example. This functional structure exhibits good craftsmanship and materials.
Environmental Value:
The Brouse Building reinforces the character of Ottawa’s central business district in the commercial core and is familiar to local residents, people working in the vicinity and pedestrians.
Sources:
Dana Johnson, Brouse Building, 181-183 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 85-028; Brouse Building, 181-183 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Heritage Character Statement 85-028.
Character-Defining Elements
The following character-defining elements of the Brouse Building should be respected:
Its Romaneque and Italianate design elements, good quality materials and craftsmanship, for example: the three-storey massing of the symmetrical façade; the first floor featuring three Romanesque arched windows with stone imposts and sandstone columns with carved capitals; the brick corbelling and stone stringcourse above; an upper arcade of five windows decorated with unusual surrounds including sandstone columns, brick corbelling, carved capitals and hood moulds; the octagonal insets with sandstone centres topped by a tier of corbelling under the metal frieze and projecting cornice.
The manner in which the Brouse Building reinforces the character of the commercial centre of downtown Ottawa and is a familiar landmark as evidenced by: its scale, design and materials that maintain a visual and physical relationship between the surrounding buildings and the Sparks Street streetscape; its familiarity to visitors, passing pedestrians, and local residents.
Heritage Character Statement
Disclaimer -
The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.
The Brouse Building was built in 1893 by a Mr. McCarthy to the designs of George F. Stalker an Ottawa architect. It was Recognized because of its very good design and craftsmanship as well as its setting which reinforces the character of the area. It forms a unit with its neighbours, the slater (177-179 Sparks) and the Dover (185-187 Sparks) buildings.
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS
This building is one of 19 buildings located on the north side of Sparks Street between Elgin and Bank streets, an area which has been, since the 1880s at least, the core of Ottawa's central business district. The Brouse Building was built by Ottawa grocer Henry Brouse as a speculative rental property. Its use over the years involved a constantly changing clientele, with a number of shifts in function. When Brouse sold the building in 1901, it was converted to use as a hotel, but within a few years, a pattern emerged of retail use of the ground floor and rental of the upper floors. The Brouse Building reflects the commercial development of Sparks Street westward to Bank in the late nineteenth century, as well as the persistence of the three-storey commercial block during this period.
ARCHITECTURE
The design of this building is rather eclectic combining Romanesque and Italianate elements constructed of buff brick with a modest amount of stone trim. With the exception of the brick and stone and piers, the ground floor has been entirely recast. The first floor features three romanesque arched windows with stone imposts and sandstone columns with carved capitals. Stone insets, brick corbelling and a stone stringcourse lead to the second storey, a similarly treated arcade of five windows decorated with unusual surrounds, including sandstone columns, brick corbelling, carved capitals and hood moulds. This composition is surmounted by octagonal insets with centres of sandstone. Another tier of corbelling supports a pressed metal frieze and cornice with strongly projecting ends. Virtually all of the original elements above the ground floor have been retained.
ENVIRONMENT
This is a relatively low structure on a block on which much taller and more recent buildings predominate. The quality of its design and of PWC's rehabilitation gives the building an attractive appearance which the city of Ottawa recognized by awarding the building a certificate of merit in 1983.