Bright future for Gamman House?

When Nathaniel Gamman built a one-and-a-half-story frame house with a mansard roof and Second Empire detailing for his growing family in the community of Janeville in the 1870s, he couldn’t have known that it would become the oldest surviving house in what is now known as Vanier.

After sitting empty for some years, the little house and its garden at 306 Cyr Street, at the back of the Canadian Legion parking lot was formerly recognized as a Heritage Property by the City of Ottawa in 2004. It was briefly occupied by the Ottawa Worker’s Heritage Centre, then was renovated to provide private studios for individual artists through the City’s Artist Studio Program.

Now empty again, Gamman House has recently been transferred from the City’s Cultural Department to its Real Estate Department and is on a list for possible disposal, possibly as a site for affordable housing because the property includes a heritage-designated greenspace.

The Vanier Community Association (VCA) has identified Gamman House as a priority for action and is proposing an approach based on the policies relating to these properties under the City’s Official Plan and Master Plan for Parks and Recreation and the City’s Vanier Culture in Action Strategy.

The VCA has worked with the faculty and students of Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism for years, exploring the potential of sites and proposing ambitious ideas for redevelopment. The Vanier Community Service Centre (CSC Vanier) named the school its 2024 Community Organization of the Year for its work in designing and building the Vanier HUB.

The VCA is now working with the City and with students of the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism on a project for the adaptive reuse of Gamman House and its property that includes a variety of possible models that may include major additions or renovations to the house, additional compatible housing on the property, and a community garden. The project provides the community with an opportunity to plan what could be much-needed community garden, cultural and gathering space. The students will present their much-anticipated final designs for Gamman House on December 10.

On December 2, the City’s Finance and Corporate Affairs Committee will be considering a staff recommendation to designate the Gamman House property as “surplus” under the City’s municipal land strategy. Whether the property is sold or is kept by the City, the VCA will continue to advocate that it remains an accessible much needed public green space for Vanier residents.