8 Images of Lansdowne Park, Past and Present

Aberdeen Pavilion has had many uses since its construction. I attempted to choose images that would best showcase this variety as well as the changing landscape around the Pavilion. The sliders track the site through its history as fair grounds and exhibition space, to a military base during the First and Second World War, to the shopping and sports complex of the newly redeveloped park. Despite the changes, the Aberdeen Pavilion remains the center of the complex, and will hopefully be put to good use in the new Lansdowne Park. Note: The sliders work best on Firefox and Safari.

Building Interior The interior of the building during construction, and modern day. The balustrade around the wall no longer exists. William James Topley/Library and Archives Canada/PA-027132

Restoration By the early 1990s, the building had fallen into disrepair, but a grant from the city restored the building to its original state. (Deachman, Bruce. "Elephants, Pandas, and Pigs, oh my! An Illustrated History of Lansdowne Park." Ottawa Citizen July 31, 2014) Lars Ploughmann. "Aberdeen Pavilion 1991" Originally posted to Flickr as 00097_n_7ab88k78v003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeen_Pavilion#mediaviewer/File:Aberdeen_Pavilion_1991.jpg

Princess Patricia Way During WWI, the site was used as a staging ground for soldiers heading to England. Now in the same street is the stadium that can be seen at the right, and out of view are the new shops of the plaza. The plaza, now named Princess Patricia Way, is named for the soldiers who were stationed there. Canada. Dept. of Mines & Technical Surveys / Library and Archives Canada / PA-034032

Exhibition Space A shot of the building in use and at rest. The pavilion has been true to its original purpose; there has been a long stream of various exhibits that have used Aberdeen Pavilion to display their wares. Many were annual exhibits, while others were one-time events. Now with the development of the area, the city is searching what to use the building for next. (City of Ottawa. "Lansdowne."http://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/planning-and-development/transforming-ottawa/lansdowne) Canada. Dept. of the Interior / Library and Archives Canada / PA-045664

The Pavilion's Skeleton A view of the building’s frame during construction, compared to the finished product 115 years later. Photograph attributed to James Ballantyne/Library and Archives Canada/PA-132244

Fairs A shot of the exhibition grounds during a fair. The perspective is a little skewed because the stadium blocks the vantage point of the older photo. The image is similar to the crowds who fill the grounds for modern fairs or football games at the newly revived stadium. William James Topley/Library and Archives Canada/PA-009125

The Ex The SuperEX was an annual event at Lansdowne run by the Central Canada Exhibition from the 1880s until 2010 when development plans ejected the fair from the park. (Corbett, Ron. "SuperEx's long ride in jeopardy." Toronto Sun August 6, 2011) Skinner, James R. "Aberdeen Pavilion During SuperEx." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_SuperEX#mediaviewer/File:AberdeenPavilionDuringSuperEx.jpg

Soldier's Tents Following the example of the First World War, Lansdowne Park was also used as a base for soldiers during WWII. The same spot has changed from empty concrete to the newly installed paths, benches and lawns of the new Lansdowne. Library and Archives Canada

3D Models and Colourized Images

Our class on the uses of images was a couple weeks ago, but a related subject, colourized images, came up in our last class. Last week’s class involved the uses of 3D visualization for historical reconstructions. As we discussed the readings and videos, it became clear that the possibilities for this technology are almost limitless. 3D modeling has the ability to recreate almost anything, from single buildings to whole cities. This has been used to great effect in historical reconstructions, and museum exhibits. One great example is the Rome Reborn project. This project took existing records and digitally rebuilt Ancient Rome in 320 C.E. The researchers and builders on this project rebuilt the temples, houses, statues, markets, and foliage of Ancient Rome and filled it with people to produce a model that is almost alive. Other city projects have focused on Rouen, France or 19th century Newcastle, Australia.

Another advantage of these models is their ability to add colour to images and statues that we have only ever seen in black and white or whose colours have faded. Our view of historic events has been shaped by these images, as well as their lack of colour. Our professor mentioned that classicists are often criticized for this perception; they often picture monuments and buildings without colour, when in fact, the colours would have been vibrant while still fresh. However, with 3D imaging, black and white photos or faded statues can be replaced with or filled in with a riot of colour. These models are certainly amazing and versatile, but the large scale ones are complicated, especially for someone with little experience. A simpler method of obtaining colourized images is colourizing regular 2-D images. One of my friends linked me to a list entitled “20 Historic Black and White Photos Colorized,” which has a variety of photos from various time periods. The site provides a before/after comparison for most of the images, which allows viewers to clearly see the differences from colourization. The site also provides links to other sources of colorized images. My favourite of this list is the “View from Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee During the Civil War, 1864.” The artist restored the light of the sun through the clouds, which enhanced the mottled light of the day, and the reflection of clouds in the puddles.

The artists who created these images used digital tools to blend their own visions with historical research on the subjects. The most common program people use to colourize photos is photoshop, which allows digital artists to shade and add colours to their projects. Images like these could be used in exhibits to present events, people, or anything else that we may be picturing wrong due to the lack of colour. They allow for much more immersive experiences because the colour provides an extra layer of reality that the viewer is much more familiar with. Instead of looking at a black and white image that may be hard to imagine in its original setting, the colour adds a familiar touch, allowing viewers to see the images as they would now. Of course, colourizing images and building 3D models is largely guesswork for those sources that do not have a lot of documentation. This may mean that we are replacing one flawed perception of images with another, but it is definitely a great experiment to see what can be developed. And who knows, these photos, like digital models, may help us see gaps in our knowledge that can still be filled.

Tracing the History of Aberdeen Pavilion through Images

Our first project for Digital History is a Digital Doors Open or Digital Landscaping. For this project, we have to choose a building or a small landscape and show how the site has changed over time using whatever digital tools we want. Our professor emphasized that we should choose a tool that we have never used before to stretch ourselves and learn something completely new. The tool was easy to choose. I have seen images like the second one on this list on various sites, and I always find them fun to play with and explore. This project gives me the opportunity to learn how to make one of my own. Choosing a location was a little more difficult. I went through multiple choices before finally settling on the Aberdeen Pavilion in Ottawa. 

                                                            Side View of Aberdeen Pavilion

Aberdeen Pavilion, or the Cattle Castle, is at the center of Lansdowne Park, a complex of buildings at the outer edge of downtown Ottawa. Modeled after the Crystal Palace in London, England, it was built in 1898 for the Central Canada Exhibition. ¹ It was designed by Moses C. Edey, a local architect, and named after the Governor General at the time, Lord Aberdeen. It is the oldest and largest surviving example of this type of exhibition building. ² The pavilion and Lansdowne Park has gone through multiple uses throughout its history. Its use as an exhibition building has been constant throughout its history, with multiple conventions and fairs using the building to present their wares. Unlike the Horticultural Building, another historic building on the site, the pavilion has not been moved, although it was threatened with destruction in the early 1990s. Fortunately, the Ottawa city council provided funding for the building’s restoration. Recently, there was controversy over the re-development of Lansdowne Park. Many were concerned about what would happen to the existing buildings amidst the building of large new shops and restaurants. The site went under construction last year and just recently opened to the public, although many of the new shops are not open yet. The site is interesting because it is important to study how heritage buildings can fit in to new landscapes while not diminishing their status. The Lansdowne Park re-development project is a good case study for this type of transition.

For this project, I will trace the history of Aberdeen Pavilion and the way Lansdowne Park has changed around it. To illustrate this, I will use a series of before/after photos sliders like the one below to compare how the building and the surrounding landscape have changed through time. Slider tools allow the user to easily compare two photos in the same location from vastly different time periods. This highlights features that have changed dramatically, or remained the same in ways that cannot be done in other formats. The final product is aimed at anyone interested in the history of Lansdowne Park, and what the re-development of the area means for the pavilion.

For the modern day pictures, I will use a combination of photos I took myself onsite, as well as images pulled from various newspapers. For historic images, I have found some good sources at Library and Archives Canada, and plan to search other repositories, such as the Ontario Archives as well. Among other things I plan to include photos sets contrasting modern and historic uses of the building and blueprints from the construction of the pavilion, and the modern re-development project. Depending on the sources I find, this list will probably expand. In particular, I would like to search for historic and modern aerial pictures of the site. From my review of various tools, the best one for my purposes seems to be Zurb’s TwentyTwenty plug-in. This tool allows users to create sliders by stacking two pictures on top of one another, and then trimming one side of the picture to make the opposing picture clearer. The tool will require me to learn the code used to layer the images. As well, if I want to embed the pictures on my blog I may have to adjust the code to allow me to insert the sliders. This type of project is completely different from anything I have ever tried before, but after admiring other people’s work for a while, I’m ready to make my own contribution.

---

1 Hofley, Chris. "Aberdeen Pavilion set to make more history in new revamped Lansdowne."Ottawa Sun August 2, 2014. 
2 ^{Canada's Historic Places. "Aberdeen Pavilion National Historic Site of Canada." Accessed October 14, 2014. ↩}

Digitally Mapping the Spread of Epidemics

Today, we are surrounded by maps. GPS makes directions much easier, whether it is for long road trips or just meeting people somewhere you have never been before. (I have a horrible sense of direction, and am always very glad when GPS can point me in the right direction, even with any flaws.) Aside from geographical maps, infographics float around the web in different forms. These depict relative sizes of countries; demographics; people’s perceptions of countries and many more. Susan Schulten’s work discusses the development of the second type of map in the United States during the 19th century. She explains how governments drowning in new statistics from multiple sources began to organize all this information into images, thus allowing patterns to form in ways that would not be seen if the information was left in text form. Advances in printing and lithography allowed for these maps to be published and edited cheaply, giving a boost to the new industry. New sources such as census and climate data were used to predict weather patterns and plot demographics. Schulten’s blog on 11of the most influential infographics of the 19th century provides a few examples of these types of maps. One shows the distribution of religions, another the origins of residents, and another the average precipitation across the country.

The type of map I am most interested in is not on this list, but is mentioned in Schulten’s book, Mapping the Nation. In her chapter on "Disease, Expansion and the Rise of Environmental Mapping," she discusses how doctors, and other medical professionals of the 19^th century began developing maps to help them explain the spread of epidemic diseases. To understand the full importance of these maps, we need to understand the debate that raged over the causes of epidemic diseases. On one side was the then reigning concept of miasma theory, in which diseases were caused by bad air. And on the other side was the current concept of germ theory, in which diseases are caused by microscopic organisms. Up to the mid-19^th century, miasma theory held sway, with most doctors dismissing germ theory as false. While polluted air can cause disease, it is only half the puzzle, or in other words a cause of disease, but not the right cause for the disease being examined. Schulten argues that medical maps were useful in this context because they provided a method to plot out outbreaks and search for their causes. She explains how these maps often stressed environmental factors, which strengthened belief in miasma theory. American examples include the Brigham map, which depicted how cholera followed trade routes, while another focused on the statistics of outbreaks. The most famous of these maps was by a British doctor, John Snow. His map used statistics from household deaths, streets, and drinking water to trace cases of cholera back to a single pump in Broad Street. His map linked the spread of the disease specifically to the water from that pump and helped prove the validity of germ theory over miasma theory.

 Snow's Cholera Map

Image taken from Wikimedia Commons

Digital mapping tools offer a range of options to enhance Snow’s and other medical maps for interpretation. Miriam Posner's blog provides links to instructions on how to develop these types of projects. The map itself could be made into part of an online gallery, with the addition of any available images or texts from the era to contextualize the period. Wider issues involving city planning and public health initiatives could also be discussed. With more research on the spread of the disease, a time-lapse map could be developed to illustrate how fast the disease spread from its epicenters. Maps could also be overlaid onto modern day maps to show the differences in housing between then and now. This could also be used to explain the factors involved in the spread of the epidemic. A flaw in this approach would be that many of the structures from that period are probably gone. In this case, a 3D model could be built to represent neighbourhoods or buildings that have disappeared. Any of these projects could be useful in depicting the period in greater, more immersive detail, in order to help visitors better understand how people lived during the outbreak of epidemics.