Where We Deliver and Set Up

Central Ottawa is where the venues are and where the housing is oldest, and both change how a setup runs. These are places we bring decor to; none of them has a page of its own yet.

Westboro. A police village in Nepean Township until the 1949-50 annexation, in which Nepean lost 7,420 acres including Westboro Beach and Nepean High School. About 71 percent of its houses are detached and most were built between 1900 and 1960, which in practice means narrow stairs, tight driveways and street parking to plan around.

Hintonburg. Its own municipality from 1893 to 1907, and boxed in on three sides today by two O-Train corridors and the Queensway. Its lot pattern was drawn by a streetcar company: Ahearn and Soper bought the Holland farm in 1892 to subdivide along their own lines, which is why the frontages are so narrow.

The Glebe. Named for church land, 178 acres deeded to St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in the 1837 survey as a Clergy Reserve. Its houses were largely built before 1914. Lansdowne Park sits inside the boundary, including the 1898 Aberdeen Pavilion, and the Great Glebe Garage Sale has run on the fourth Saturday in May since 1986.

Centretown. The densest neighbourhood in the city, 25,687 people over 2.1 square kilometres at the 2021 census, and roughly 86 percent apartments and condominiums. Two designated heritage conservation districts sit inside it, Minto Park from 1988 and Centretown from 1997.

Old Ottawa South. The Police Village of Rideauville until annexation on 16 December 1907, with the Rideau Canal on one side and the Rideau River on the other and the high-level Bank Street Bridge of 1912 as the way in. Predominantly Craftsman housing, with American Foursquare popular through the 1920s and 1930s.

Alta Vista. Annexed from Gloucester Township in 1950 and built out afterwards, subdivision by datable subdivision: Faircrest Heights, Applewood Acres, Ridgemont and Elmvale Acres in the 1950s, Guildwood Estates in the early 1970s. It is a hospital district too, with the General Campus and CHEO fronting Smyth Road.

Vanier. Three settlements merged in 1908, Janeville, Clarkstown and Clandeboye, called Eastview until 1969 and then renamed for Governor General Georges Vanier. Montreal Road has been the spine since it was built as a toll road from 1869. Richelieu Park holds Canada's only urban sugar shack, first sugared off in April 1940.

Blackburn Hamlet. Completely encircled by NCC Greenbelt, with former National Defence Proving Grounds land on its eastern flank. Built by one developer in one burst, Costain Estates with landowner Michael Budd, first residents in 1967, roughly 80 percent of homes dating from 1961 to 1980. Its population peaked in 1981 and is lower today.

Carp. A rural village on communal well water and the municipal trunk sewer, which is the opposite of what most people assume. The Carp Fair has run since 1863 and its octagonal Exhibit Hall has been the main fairground building since 1880. The farmers' market runs Saturdays from May to the end of October.

Gatineau has its own page. Hull and Aylmer are sectors of it rather than separate towns, and they read as different places once you are there.

Hull. Founded in 1800 by Philemon Wright as Wright's Town, so it is older than Bytown. The 1900 fire razed the downtown, which is why the old core is a post-1900 rebuild rather than an early-1800s streetscape. About 80 percent of residents reported French as a first language at the 2001 census, so signage and speeches usually are too.

Aylmer. Founded in 1818 by Philemon Wright Jr. at a place called Turnpike End; the Aylmer name arrived with the 1831 post office. The Symmes Inn of 1831 and the British Hotel of 1841 stand on the same street because this was a stage and steamer stop. It fronts Lac Deschenes, and it absorbed the villages of Lucerne and Deschenes in 1975.