18b York Street - Sidedoor Restaurant - Integrated Project Dossier (2017)

Although 18b York St does not have an official heritage designation, it has important social ties with the Ottawa Francophone community, significant contextual values, and played a role in the Byward Market’s economic history. 18 York St was built on October 24th, 1877, only 23 years after Bytown’s official declaration as a city. It’s architect, J. Bowes, designed approximately 30 other buildings in the Ottawa area during his career.

The four-storey, masonry clad building was originally designed to house L’Institut Canadien Français d’Ottawa. This organization played a key role in the advancement to officially make Ottawa a bilingual city. Nearly a century later, 18 York St was acquired by the NCC after it had been gutted by a fire in 1970, and was rehabilitated into a Franco-Ontarian theatre.