Bytown and Nepean Road Company Toll House - Ottawa, Ontario
Posted by: Weathervane
N 45° 24.139 W 075° 43.583
18T E 443151 N 5027900
The Bytown and Nepean Road Company Toll House, built in 1888, is located on Wellington Street, in Ottawa, Ontario.
Waymark Code: WMH55N
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 05/24/2013
Views: 21
"This 1888 building, currently Tony's Shoe Repair, was the residence of the gate keeper who collected tolls from travellers going between Ottawa and Bells Corners. After an earlier 1883 toll house was burnt, tenders for the current structure called for "the erection of a Toll House at Gate No. 1 (on the foundation of the old one lately destroyed by fire) according to the plans and specifications of the said old building." The contractor was required to repair the stone foundation and was allowed to re-use the old brick in the new building. At some point after 1895, the building ceased to be the toll house and it was rented in 1898 or 1899 to Israel G Smith, a physician and public health officer for Hintonburg.
The property was sold to Robert Miller Arbuthnot (1874-1945), a druggist, in 1907. The Arbuthnots left the business in 1914. Michael Joseph O'Callaghan, his wife Clara and son Bernard leased the premises and carried on the business, sometimes under the name West End Pharmacy Ltd, until the 1940s when Conrad Dupuis took over. In 1958 the pharmacy became a shoe repair store. The present owner has retained the original interior fittings of the earlier druggist including the pharmacist's cupboards, counter, and cash register. Note the stained glass window over the doorway showing a mortar and pestle; the curved display windows are also topped by stained glass motifs."
Reference: (
visit link)