Bayne House

Photo: Ross Dunn, Flickr

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Grete Hale. Photo: Beechwood Cemetery

Queen Elizabeth cuts the first slice of a 10-metre-tall cake on July 1, 1967 during Centennial celebrations on Parliament Hill. (Library and Archives Canada/C-024559)

The Centennial cake stood 20 feet tall, was slathered in 700 pounds of icing and fed the 40,000 Canadians who came to Parliament Hill for the festivities. Photo: Senate of Canada

Address: 40 Fuller Street

Construction date: 1828

Bayne House is arguably Ottawa’s oldest house. The stone home was built in 1828 for George Bayne by Corporal William Ross who was in Ottawa working on the construction of the Rideau Canal.

Grete Hale is the latest notable resident of the home. Hale, who died Oct. 28 2022 at age 93, was the second of Ottawa’s legendary “Three Sisters”, the daughters of Cecil Morrison, the co-founder of Morrison Lamothe Bakery.

She graduated from Carleton University in 1954 with a degree in journalism and joined Morrison Lamothe in 1966, became president in 1979 and chair of the board in 1989. She oversaw production of the Centennial cake, cut by Queen Elizabeth II. The cake stood 20 feet tall, was slathered in 700 pounds of icing and fed the 40,000 Canadians who came to Parliament Hill for the festivities.

She was actively involved in many institutions, including as governor of the University of Ottawa, president of Beechwood National Cemetery and honorary colonel of the Governor General’s Foot Guards, the first woman to do so.