Council approves plan to restore historic Somerset House

The historic Somerset House in Ottawa.

By CityNews Ottawa staff

Posted Sep 28, 2023 09:26:47 AM.

Ottawa City Council has unanimously voted in favour of a plan to restore the city’s historic Somerset House.

The proposal would see a three-storey addition to the back east of the building, with 14 residential units and two commercial units. Its design would preserve key historic features such as its distinctive red brick, bay windows, and corner metal turret.

Somerset House was originally built in 1896 as a department store for the Crosby, Carruthers Company.

But since partially collapsing and being vacated in 2007, the building has stacked up over 30 requests for service and nearly a dozen notices of violations. Several building projects have been approved by former councils to restore or demolish the building.

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