Ottawa Hotel, Montreal

The Ottawa Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was built in 1845 at 50 St. James Street by George Hall. It is a late 19th Century example of an attempt to build a skyscraper. Hall had previously owned a hotel by the same name located at the corner of McGill and St. Maurice Streets from at least 1842. The Lovell's City Directories of 1844/45 through to 1850 lists the two Ottawa Hotels as: Ottawa Hotel (old,) (F.P. Levine,) McGill Street and Ottawa Hotel (new,) (George Hall,) 50 Great St. James Street. The 1850 Lovell's listing also has an advertisement which states: The Lovell's Directories after 1852 list only the one Ottawa Hotel, on Great St. James Street. (Great St. James Street ran from Place d'Armes west to McGill Street while Little...