Winterholme
309-311 Daly Avenue
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
Georges-Edouard Desbarats commissioned this two-and-a-half storey mansion, completed in 1865. The year before, Desbarats had signed on as Queen’s Printer, a post his family had held since 1799. After only four years in Ottawa, he resigned to found the Canadian Illustrated News and its French counterpart, L’Opinion Publique. These were the world’s first periodicals to carry half-tone photographs, rather than artists’ engravings, using a process that Desbarats and his engraver developed.
This Italianate mansion reveals how quickly Sandy Hill became a fashionable residential district once the federal government began preparing for the move to Ottawa.
The house was named Winterholme by the larger-than-life Sir Sanford Fleming, who purchased it from Desbarats in 1869. As the name suggests, he spent only his winters here. Fleming is well-known for his involvement with the Canadian railway system and the development of international standard time. He is buried at Beechwood cemetery, along with many other famous Ottawans.
