Strathcona Park runs along the west bank of the Rideau River and forms the eastern edge of Sandy Hill. On a summer evening it’s full of people reading on the grass, kids at the playground and dogs out for a walk, and it’s easy to forget you’re a 15-minute walk from Parliament.
The land wasn’t always a park. It was originally swampy floodplain that couldn’t be built on, and for a time it was the Dominion Rifle Range, where soldiers trained before leaving for the Second Boer War. Between 1904 and 1907, the Ottawa Improvement Commission (the agency that later became the NCC) turned it into a park.
It’s named after Lord Strathcona, Donald Smith, who paid for his own regiment during the Boer War. He also donated the park’s centrepiece: the Lord Strathcona Fountain, sculpted by French artist Mathurin Moreau and cast in Paris. It was unveiled on July 1, 1909, and it’s still one of the prettiest spots in the neighbourhood.
Today the park has open lawns, a playground, paths along the river, and a view across the water toward Vanier. In winter it’s a favourite spot for tobogganing and walks.
If you’re looking at homes in Sandy Hill, the streets closest to Strathcona Park tend to be the quietest and most residential in the neighbourhood, farther from the university and the busier roads. That makes them some of the most sought-after.
Sources: Strathcona Park (Ottawa) and IMAGE, the Sandy Hill community newspaper.
Photo by SimonP, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.