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I've lived in 3 major world cities and currently live in Quebec City. Despite what people say, I think all cities can be paralleled in one way or another to give people a sense of which neighbourhoods are like which. I've done it myself several times for people to just give a rough sense. You can't do it pound for pound obviously but roughly, I think you can.
So can anyone who knows Quebec City really well tell me what neighbourhoods are like which in Ottawa? I know if I ask for New York some people will say, "are you joking? Ottawa is NOTHING like New York" and I'm not saying it is, I'm saying I can compare New York to Quebec City for you in several ways having lived a very long time in both. I'm not talking exact comparisons, I'm talking "this neighbourhood is like this other one because it has the same historic industrial feel" or "that one and this one have similar buildings from the same period and also have older couples and few children living there", etc etc etc.
So tell me about Ottawa in this context if you can comparing with Quebec.
Well yeah, to start off, Ottawa is indeed quite different from Quebec City.
One big thing: ethnic diversity.
Ottawa is not like Montreal and Toronto with many areas that *feel like* they are dominated by specific groups or like the US where large parts of cities literally are dominated by certain groups.
The one exception being Ottawa's Chinatown I suppose, though that's a relatively small area.
Ottawa does have Little Italy (around Preston St.) and while Italian businesses are numerous there, relatively few Italians live there these days.
You do have pockets of areas (projects or buildings) where there are more people from certain ethnic communities, and this is something you don't really much in Quebec City.
So Ottawa is significantly more ethnically diverse than Quebec City, but people from all groups tend to live all over the city.
Another difference is that Ottawa does not have old and dense rowhouse districts like St-Roch.
Southeast of Parliament you have Elgin Street which is kind of like Avenue Cartier.
Northeast of the market you have Rockcliffe Park and New Edinburgh which are kind of like Sillery. Beechwood Ave. there is kind of like Avenue Maguire.
Sandy Hill east of the Rideau Centre and around the University of Ottawa might be equivalent to Limoilou.
I know there are formerly working class areas in Quebec City like St-Sauveur and St-Roch that have gentrified. In Ottawa places like Mechanicsville and Westboro would be the equivalent. Some people would add Vanier (the Vanier in Ottawa) but I don't think it's quite there yet.
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much.
I was trying to figure out what is like Montcalm and the particular part I live in near Fraser.
Are there any neighbourhoods that are more Georgian/Edwardian/Victorian in architecture?
Last edited by tinpanalley; 05-03-2022 at 09:05 PM..
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much.
I was trying to figure out what is like Montcalm and the particular part I live in near Fraser.
Are there any neighbourhoods that are more Georgian/Edwardian/Victorian in architecture?
The Glebe (which I did not cover) fits the bill I think.
There is also Centretown which is north of the 417 and south of the CBD office district, which has a similar vernacular but isn't completely gentrified yet. So it has some rougher parts (by Ottawa standards).
When I think of it, I don't think the Glebe ever had to gentrify. It was always fairly posh.
There is also Centretown which is north of the 417 and south of the CBD office district, which has a similar vernacular but isn't completely gentrified yet. So it has some rougher parts (by Ottawa standards).
When I think of it, I don't think the Glebe ever had to gentrify. It was always fairly posh.
So is there an "affordable Glebe" elsewhere or does it start to degrade crimewise? Doesn't have to be close to downtown, we'd probably never go to downtown anyway. Cartier is the busiest place we go to here and it's only because our butcher and green grocer are there. I mean you can do a really nice apartment/condo in a triplex in Montcalm from 400k-510k. Easily. Does that just not exist even if you go far?
So is there an "affordable Glebe" elsewhere or does it start to degrade crimewise? Doesn't have to be close to downtown, we'd probably never go to downtown anyway. Cartier is the busiest place we go to here and it's only because our butcher and green grocer are there. I mean you can do a really nice apartment/condo in a triplex in Montcalm from 400k-510k. Easily. Does that just not exist even if you go far?
All of the comparably nice parts of Ottawa are probably going to be close to double what you'd pay in Quebec City. They're in very high demand.
Centretown which is probably a bit cheaper than the Glebe isn't too bad crime-wise. It's just not as nice as the Glebe.
Most of the higher-crime areas of Ottawa are generally apartments blocks and 1970s-80s rowhousing, so probably not the type of places you'd be looking at anyway.
Hey, I just wanted to say thinks again. We're re-reading all your replies because we're back onto the idea of living in Ottawa after exploring other options. We'd rather modify slightly the kind of place we're used to living in in exchange for picking the right kind of neighbourhood. And so, just digging around lately we've seen some interesting things in Byward Market and The Glebe Annex / Centretown West. The problem is we don't know where to look further outside the main city to find something safe/attractive.
But your posts are super helpful right now as we explore the city virtually. Clearly Montcalm is something that in pretty much every other city simply can't be had for the same price but I gotta tell you, we've recently started to see from visiting different properties here that one of two things suffers in Montcalm.. either the condition of the inside of the apartment, or the unchecked and withering condition of the building itself or foundations. Things just aren't as protected as in the Old Quebec. And we've spoken to structural engineers who've told us that in Montcalm, we should be prepared for anything and that costs can run in the tens of thousands from decades of buildings being neglected. Our move to Ottawa not just for this but various other reasons is more likely now than ever. Probably aiming for later this year or early next year.
Hey, I just wanted to say thinks again. We're re-reading all your replies because we're back onto the idea of living in Ottawa after exploring other options. We'd rather modify slightly the kind of place we're used to living in in exchange for picking the right kind of neighbourhood. And so, just digging around lately we've seen some interesting things in Byward Market and The Glebe Annex / Centretown West. The problem is we don't know where to look further outside the main city to find something safe/attractive.
But your posts are super helpful right now as we explore the city virtually. Clearly Montcalm is something that in pretty much every other city simply can't be had for the same price but I gotta tell you, we've recently started to see from visiting different properties here that one of two things suffers in Montcalm.. either the condition of the inside of the apartment, or the unchecked and withering condition of the building itself or foundations. Things just aren't as protected as in the Old Quebec. And we've spoken to structural engineers who've told us that in Montcalm, we should be prepared for anything and that costs can run in the tens of thousands from decades of buildings being neglected. Our move to Ottawa not just for this but various other reasons is more likely now than ever. Probably aiming for later this year or early next year.
Anyway, thanks again!!
Not to be too much of a debbie downer but I think you'll probably encounter some of those issues with the condition of many older buildings in central Ottawa as well. Obviously many aren't as old as in Quebec City but especially outside the posher areas like the Glebe, having been in a few of them and driving or walking by a lot of them over the years, there are a ton of dog-eared properties there.
Those that are in really good shape are of course $$$$$$$$$$$$.
Beyond that, I do think Ottawa is a really good choice over the other cities you were considering. It's really in a class by itself in the eastern half of Canada except for Montreal and Toronto, and maybe Quebec City (that I would rank fairly close to Ottawa because it punches so much above its weight).
Not to be too much of a debbie downer but I think you'll probably encounter some of those issues with the condition of many older buildings in central Ottawa as well.
Oh, of course, that's why we've decided to focus on the right neighbourhood and the right price and set aside the "picture perfect" ideal apartment purchase. We think Ottawa probably has so much to offer that it will solve the issues we're having here that we don't want to live with anymore.
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