Did you know?

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• The name of Ellwood House was taken from the two pioneer families of the area, Ellis and Wood, whose names combined to form the name of the first rail stop south of the Rideau River.

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• During the 1970s and early 1980s, the unpaved parking lot that became Ellwood House was considered for housing for retired clergy.

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• Jim Colizza, architect of Ellwood House, won the 1989 Ottawa-Carleton Home Builders’ Association award for the design.

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• As a teenager, John Chapman, our retired bishop, learned to drive in the St. Thomas parking lot that became the site of Ellwood House.

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• Since its opening in 1988, Ellwood House has provided safe and affordable housing for hundreds of seniors in our community.

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• Established in 1987, Ellwood House was the first seniors’ residence built on church property in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa.

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• Hundreds of seniors are on the waiting lists for Ellwood House (the internal list for market rent and City of Ottawa lists for rent geared to income).

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• The vice-chair of the original Ellwood House planning committee wrote a booklet about the process. The Early Years is an interesting piece of St. Thomas history.

 

• The final planning and construction of Ellwood House took four years—from May 1985 to the official opening in July 1989.

 

• Ellwood House’s part-time property managers are from Homestarts, a non-profit organization dedicated to the success of housing co-operatives in Ontario.