Lansdowne Park Gate
Mr. Leaning's The Story of the Glebe is fascinating! The amount of work that went into it is to be commended.
I grew up in Sandy Hill in the forties, but had countless experiences along the canal, in the Glebe, at Lansdowne Park and I got married at St. Matthews. I mention this only to display an honest concern about getting what I think is a mistake, corrected.
On page 41 is a picture of The Rideau Canoe Club and the entrance to Lansdowne Park. I believe the picture is horizontally reversed. And that the accompanying words which state the view is looking north, are similarly incorrect. The Rideau Canoe Club was at Fifth Avenue and Lansdowne Park south of that. Looking south from where that picture was taken would find the Canoe Club to the left and the Lansdowne Park entrance to the right.
No big deal of course, but for what it's worth, thought I should pass this observation along.
Thank you for your message. I also thank you for your detailed scrutiny of all text and photos related to the history of the Glebe, as we are always mindful that errors of identification can inadvertently occur.
That said, I believe that the picture and text on page 41 of John Leaning's book The Story of the Glebe is accurate. (see photo A) I have several other photographs of the Fifth Avenue gates to Lansdowne Park, and the building which housed The Rideau Canoe Club is quite clearly just inside Lansdowne Park, immediately south of the gates (see photo B). The Canoe Club entrance seems to be right level with a fence that ran east from the gates to the building, so it could be accessed from the north side, outside the gates. The picture on page 41 is at an oblique angle which makes the Canoe Club building appear well south of the gates, where in fact the north end of the building was parallel to the gates and on the edge of the canal.
Sometime in 1912, the Rideau Aquatic Club changed its name to the Rideau Canoe Club. At about the same time Mutchmor Street underwent a name change to become Fifth Avenue.