Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Diplomatic Mission In Sandy Hill

To my American readers, a Happy Fourth of July!

The Embassy of Algeria can be found in the Sandy Hill area. It is another of the regular features for Doors Open, and occupies the Fleck-Paterson House. Built in 1901 by the timber baron J.R. Booth for his daughter Gertrude and her new husband, the home would end up becoming a residence for Senator Norman Paterson until his death in 1983. The Algerians bought it in 2002 and have run their diplomatic operations here since. It is a marvelous place to visit. Longtime readers might remember it, as I have visited it before.


Coming outside, one gets a view of the coach house, built in the same style. The building beyond it is much less friendly- that is the rear of the Russian Embassy.


The backyard here is well tended, with a terrace that looks out over the Rideau River, with the Vanier neighbourhood on the other side.


Here we have a view of the house from this vantage spot.


The coach house had photo books from Algeria, as well as other items on display.

35 comments:

  1. A beautiful place! Very impressive buildings and interesting display items.

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  2. Hello, what a pretty embassy! Great tour! Enjoy your day!

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  3. That's almost like a castle ! Beautiful house would suit me too with the right number of servants of course, lol !

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  4. I love the idea of the open door event. How much time, on average, do you spend at each place? You are so thorough.

    Janis
    GDP

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  5. Alway nice to have a look inside luxury houses and image you could live there...

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  6. The Embassy of Algeria has beautiful sourroundings.

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  7. There is a small park near the Russian Embassy where we used to take our daughter while I studied n Ottawa. That place was locked up like a prison. It didn’t look very inviting, that’s for sure.

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  8. Gone are the days when father's built houses for their newly wed daughters. There were several like that in the town I grew up in.

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  9. @Nancy: it is quite a place.

    @Eileen: thank you!

    @Francisco: thanks!

    @Gattina: you'd have needed staff to keep up this place.

    @Janis: probably a half hour on average. Some I've been through before, so I might be there less. Others are brand new to me.

    @Marianne: that view out onto the river would be ideal!

    @Klara: yes, it does.

    @Tom: definitely!

    @Marie: that would be Strathcona Park, unless there's another one in Sandy Hill that I'm not thinking of. I should go down there again sometime before summer ends. The Russian embassy still looks forbidding. It replaced the older one that would have been around at the end of the Second World War, either at that location or on the same street.

    @Sharon: J.R. Booth was a very rich man.

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  10. Wonderful photos
    Houses like that remind me of summer time.

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  11. It looks quite dark when you are inside, but it's a beautiful building at a wonderful site.

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  12. Another amazing embassy William, those diplomats are extremely lucky fellows 😀 Why am I not surprised that the Russian Embassy looks less friendly!

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  13. Okay , I think a coach house was where they kept the horses and carriages? Am I right?

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  14. What a beautiful embasssy. I like this Open Doors thing!

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  15. Even the Russian Embassy looks nicer than ours.

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  16. What a beautiful home that is/was!
    I think you may be right about Doug on the sign.

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  17. Such a lovely looking place, I enjoyed your photographs William, thank you.

    All the best Jan

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  18. Beautiful place you have been to.
    Nice posting!

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  19. I'm surprised the public are allowed entry into an embassy. It is a very impressive building.

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  20. It's a marvelous place though the interior seems a bit gloomy. I also like the stonework on the Russian place though I must say I was peering at the rouf for antennas.

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  21. Scuze me, make that "roof" in my previous comment.

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  22. i usually go for more calm plate patterns ...but i really enjoy this one ... so floral. happy & springy looking. ( ;

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  23. @Maywyn: I imagine with the breeze coming off the river, this place feels good in the summer.

    @Jan: it certainly is!

    @Grace: Darth Vlad the Impaler, Dark Lord of the Sith, enjoys being unfriendly.

    @Red: yes, originally. From the size of it I imagine a chauffeur and his family would have lived there as well, but these days, with hardwood floors inside, you don't park a car in there.

    @Jeanie: it is a great concept.

    @Norma: oh, your embassy has slowly grown on me.

    @RedPat: and it's still put to good use.

    @Jan: you're welcome.

    @Gunn: thank you!

    @Fun60: some embassies will participate each year. Others are a bit less regular. And still others will not at all.

    @Catalyst: the story goes that the Mounties once staked out the embassy in the Soviet days to keep an eye on them.

    @Beth: it's a pleasant looking place.

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  24. What a gorgeous embassy. Thank you for the wonderful tour, I enjoyed it William.

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  25. I really like that stained glass window. Thanks for the tour, William. :-)

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  26. Beautiful buildings. I like the plate and gorgeous glass window.

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  27. The glass and the woodwork...oh, so beautiful. Gertrude and her husband received quite a fine gift!

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  28. Beautiful house ~ so majestic and landscape so lovely ~

    Happy Day to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  29. Ah the Russians! Thanks for the tour

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  30. Another look into an interesting building!! Love it!

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  31. Beautiful embassy William. I've been reading awfully fast because of needing to catch up after our trip, so maybe I missed this, but have you said how long your "Open Doors" lasts?

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  32. @Bill: you're welcome.

    @DJan: a pleasure to have done so.

    @Tamago: and so do I.

    @Kay: yes they did.

    @Carol: it's quite a spot.

    @Karl: definitely!

    @Cloudia: pesky Russians!

    @Jenn: so do I.

    @Sallie: it's a two day event in Ottawa, but these events take place across the province on weekends from late April into early October, both big cities and small towns.

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