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Lecture Tour of America 1882

Writing and Research on Oscar Wilde

Ottawa

Ontario

Grand Opera House

Tuesday, May 16, 1882

The Decorative Arts

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Ottawa newspaper report and interview

Montreal Daily Witness, May 19, 1882, 8

Verification

Newspaper report

The Ottawa Daily Citizen, May 17, 1882, 1

Reported that “there was a fairly good audience,” for Wilde's lecture.

Venue

Grand Opera House

134 Albert Street, between O’Connor and Metcalfe Streets, Ottawa, ON

Built: 1874

Destroyed (fire): July 6, 1913

Accommodation

Russell House

SE corner of Sparks and Elgin Streets, Ottawa, ON

A small hotel first built on the site: 1840s

Renamed: 1863 (Russell House)

Enlarged: 1874

Enlarged: 1880

Closed: 1925

Destroyed (fire): 1928

On arrival in Ottawa, Wilde went immediately to the Russell House, the finest hotel in the city at the time, where he was interviewed by the Toronto Globe and “fairly besieged by autograph hounds."

The following day Wilde departed Ottawa by the 4.55 pm train to Quebec City.

Russell House — drawing room

Russell House — dining room

John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026