Architecture of Ottawa - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The architecture of Ottawa is most marked by the city's role as the national capital of Canada. This gives the city a number of monumental structures designed to represent the federal government and the nation. It also means that as a city dominated by government bureaucrats, much of its architecture tends to be formalistic

Formalism (art)

In art theory, formalism is the concept that a work's artistic value is entirely determined by its form--the way it is made, its purely visual aspects, and its medium. Formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture rather than realism, context, and content...

and functional

Functionalism (architecture)

Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...

. However, the city is also marked by Romantic

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

and Picturesque

Picturesque

Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...

styles of architecture such as the Parliament Building's

Parliament Hill

Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...

gothic revival architecture

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

.

While the political capital, Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

has always been heavily influenced from the larger cities of Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

and Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. This has held true in architecture, and over its history Ottawa has followed the prevailing architectural trends popular in Canada and North America. The city is thus a mix of different styles, varying considerably based on what era a building or neighbourhood was constructed in. While founded in the early nineteenth century, few buildings survive from that era and the vast majority of the city's structures date from the twentieth century. Much of the downtown was also greatly transformed in the 1960s and 1970s, and the swath of suburbs that surround the city also date from this period.

The general stereotype of Ottawa architecture is that it is staid and unambitious. Urban design consultant Trevor Boddy said that "with the relative extremes of poverty and wealth removed here, along with the vital concentrations of immigrant cultures which denote most Canadian cities, Ottawa seemed to me to represent only the hollow norm, the vacant centre.". Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...

architecture critic Rhys Phillips has echoed these concerns, saying that Ottawa "looks like some tired little Prairie town on its last legs."

Urban planning

Unlike several other national capitals, such as Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

and Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, Ottawa was never built to a master plan. However, several commissions have played a role in determining the shape of the city. Colonel By envisioned building several grand boulevards but the difficulties of expropriation and demolition prevented this from happening. In the late 1880s, Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier developed a 50-year vision of the city's future development and created the Ottawa Improvement Commission (OIC). The early years of the OIC under the direction of Montreal-born architect Frederick Todd

Frederick Todd

Frederick Gage Todd was the first resident landscape architect in Canada. For the majority of his life he was one of a small group committed to the art and practice of structuring urban growth in the first half of the century. His projects ranged from Vancouver, B.C...

saw the removal of industry along the canal, the definition of Patterson Creek

Patterson Creek (Ottawa)

Patterson Creek is a small body of water in the middle of Ottawa, Canada. The creek was originally a small stream flowing east through a swampy area to the Rideau River. The construction of the Rideau Canal blocked the creek causing it to become much larger in size. The Creek originally ran from...

and the transfer of Rockcliff Park

Rockcliffe Park, Ontario

Rockcliffe Park is one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Ottawa, Ontario, and is one of the most prosperous enclaves in Canada. From 1926 until 2001 it was an independent village, but was amalgamated with the rest of the city January 1, 2001...

to the federal government. In 1913, Sir Robert Borden appointed the Sir Henry Holt Commission which was the first to state the need for a national capital region and also the removal of railway lines from the downtown core.

Twenty years later, the Federal District Commission and Prime Minister Mackenzie King urged the federal government to acquire land, which eventually led to the creation of Confederation Square.

Confederation Park

Confederation Park is a park in downtown Ottawa and a National Historic Site of Canada. It is bordered on the south by Laurier Avenue and Ottawa City Hall; on the east by the Rideau Canal; on the north by the Mackenzie King Bridge, the Rideau Centre and the National Arts Centre; and, to the west,...

In 1939, King invited Jacques Gréber

Jacques Gréber

Jacques-Henri-Auguste Gréber was a French architect specializing in landscape architecture and urban design. He was a strong proponent of the Beaux-Arts style and a contributor to the City Beautiful movement, particularly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Ottawa, Ontario.-Early life and...

to create a master plan for the city. This plan proposed new parkways along the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers, included the idea for the Greenbelt

Greenbelt (Ottawa)

The Greenbelt is a crescent of land within the present-day boundaries of the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in which real estate development is strictly controlled. It begins at Shirleys Bay in the west and extends to Green's Creek in the east...

, and urged the need for a ceremonial route to Parliament but the plan was not approved until 1951 by the government of Louis St. Laurent

Louis St. Laurent

Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....

. Gréber's Plan has mostly been implemented and still affects the city today.

In 1958, the National Capital Commission

National Capital Commission

The National Capital Commission , is a Canadian Crown corporation that administers the federally owned lands and buildings in Canada's National Capital Region, including Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec.The NCC was created in 1959, replacing the Federal District Commission , which had been...

(NCC) replaced the Federal District Commission. As a federal agency, the NCC worked along with the many individual municipal governments (before amalgamation in 2000) on the Ontario and Quebec sides in planning and designing the city. It acquired the lands for the Greenbelt and in the 1960s it removed the railway tracks from downtown, making rail travel less accessible, but also opening the Rideau Canal as a scenic tourist destination. The NCC continues to have a major role in planning and does have a long range plan for how to showcase the region as a national capital, but has limited legitimacy as an unelected bureaucracy.

The streets of central Ottawa follow a grid pattern, but it is frequently disrupted by the Rideau River

Rideau River

thumb|Rapids on the Rideau River opposite [[Carleton University]].The Rideau River is a Southern Ontario river which flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 km...

and Rideau Canal

Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...

, ensuring that few streets in most of the older neighbourhoods are very long. Outside of the core the roads follow the modern standard of large avenues forming grid, interspersed with a network of crescents and cul-de-sacs creating low traffic suburban neighbourhoods. The Queensway

Queensway (Ottawa)

The Queensway is a major controlled-access freeway running through Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from Kanata in the west to Orleans in the east. It is the primary east-west transportation artery in the Ottawa-Gatineau area....

, a major highway

Highway

A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...

crosses almost all of the city from east to west, going just south of downtown. It was built in the 1960s mostly over former railway tracks, and thus did not entail the same urban destruction as expressways in other cities. There are five road, and one rail, bridges crossing over the Ottawa River, four of which are in the downtown area, ensuring that much of the interprovincial traffic, including many large trucks, pass through the centre of town.

Several planning decisions have played an important role in the development of Ottawa and its architecture. One long standing rule that had a great effect on the downtown core, was a prohibition on buildings being taller than the 92 meter tall Peace Tower

Peace Tower

The Peace Tower is a focal bell and clock tower, sitting on the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario. The present incarnation replaced the Victoria Tower after the latter burned down in 1916, along with most of the Centre Block...

. It was instituted to prevent the Parliament Buildings from being dwarfed by more modern structures. While today there are a number of taller buildings, Ottawa's central business district still does not have the towering buildings found in most other North American cities, instead having a considerable number of mid-sized towers.

Ottawa is home to a large Greenbelt

Greenbelt (Ottawa)

circling the entire urban core. It was created as an attempt to limit sprawl and encourage density, with mixed success. The Greenbelt has remained largely intact, but Ottawa's newest suburbs such as Kanata

Kanata

Kanata is an aboriginal word meaning "village" or "settlement."- Name of Canada :Until the mid-20th century, the Mohawk word "kanata" was thought to have been the origin of Canada's name...

, Barrhaven, and Orleans

Orléans, Ontario

Orleans , also written Orléans, is a suburban area within the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the eastern part of the city along the Ottawa River, about from downtown Ottawa. The Canada 2006 Census gave Orleans a population of 95,491. It became a ward of the City of Ottawa in 2001...

have jumped over the belt. The Greenbelt is increasingly becoming a wide avenue of green between two developed areas. Prior to amalgamation in 2000 the region was divided into several communities each with its own planning guidelines and the suburbs have distinct characters. Kanata is especially notable as developer Bill Teron's attempt to create a modern suburb embracing garden city

Garden city movement

The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...

principles.

Design Review Panel

The City of Ottawa’s Urban Design Review Panel was approved by City Council on Thursday, October 6, 2010. Ottawa’s Urban Design Review Panel is a volunteer advisory panel made up of design professionals. The Panel provides design recommendations for capital and private sector development projects that fall within the City’s Design Priority Areas. The Panel is intended to enhance the City’s capabilities in achieving architectural and urban design excellence.

Federal government

The presence of the federal government has shaped every facet of the city of Ottawa, and its architecture has been dramatically affected for both good and ill. Ottawa exists as a major city almost solely because it was selected to be the capital of the new nation of Canada, and the federal government remains the dominant employer in the city. Many of Ottawa's most acclaimed structures are the result of federal government projects, but the affinity for cheapness and blandness of recent government building has also played a central role in Ottawa's perceived architectural dullness.

In the years after Confederation the federal government constructed a series of monumental structures in Ottawa. The most important of these buildings was the Parliament of Canada

Parliament of Canada

The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...

, unquestionably Ottawa's most famous building and one also acclaimed by architectural critics. The parliamentary complex consists of a series of Neo-Gothic structures. They are one of the world's most prominent examples of Victorian High Gothic, with no attempts to ape medievalism, but rather a recombination of Gothic forms into a wholly original style of building. Early civil service buildings were built in similarly high style with the Second Empire Style Langevin Block

Langevin Block

The Langevin Block is an office building facing Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. As the home of the Privy Council Office and Office of the Prime Minister, it is the working headquarters of the executive branch of the Canadian government...

and Baronial Connaught Building

Connaught Building

The Connaught Building is a historic office building in Ottawa, Canada, owned by Public Works and Government Services Canada. It is located at 555 MacKenzie Street just south of the American Embassy...

being two prominent examples.

Subsequent decades saw the federal government embrace modernism. The attitude towards government buildings also changed. In earlier eras all government buildings were considered to be important symbols of the country, and designed to be both monumental and functional. However, by the 1960s efficiency and cost effectiveness was the main goal of government projects. The many government structures built during this era thus tend to be models of International Style minimalism, unornamented, with no attempt at distinctiveness. Moreover, in an era of political discontent over high taxes it was even a priority that the buildings not be cheap, but also look cheap so that visitors from the regions wouldn't feel that the federal government was wasting their money in Ottawa. In this era the federal government decided to erect many of its new buildings outside of the downtown core. Partially for political reasons, the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...

opted to build a series of massive federal government office towers on the Quebec side of the border, most notably the Place du Portage

Place du Portage

right|thumb|250px|The Place du Portage complex facing the Ottawa River.Place du Portage is a large office complex in the Hull sector of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, situated along Boulevard Maisonneuve and facing the Ottawa River...

and Terrasses de la Chaudière

Terrasses de la Chaudière

Terrasses de la Chaudière is a complex of government office buildings in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The complex was built in 1978 as part of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's initiative to see more federal workers based in the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. It was built by developer Robert Campeau...

. In the western part of Ottawa a cluster of government buildings were built at Tunney's Pasture

Tunney's Pasture

Tunney's Pasture is an area within the City of Ottawa, Ontario, that is exclusively developed for Canada's federal government buildings. It is bordered by Scott Street to the south, Parkdale Avenue to the east, the Ottawa River Parkway to the north and Northwestern Avenue to the west...

. The downtown core did see a great deal of building during this era, especially after the city eased its 150 foot height restriction on office towers. Examples include the Department of National Defence Headquarters by the canal and the Place de Ville

Place de Ville

Place de Ville is a complex of office towers in downtown Ottawa. It currently consists of four buildings, Place de Ville A, B, and C, and the 'Podium' building, two large hotels, and the city's largest underground parking garage. The buildings are linked by an underground shopping complex...

complex, built by private developer Robert Campeau

Robert Campeau

Robert Campeau is a Canadian financier and real estate developer.-Early years:His formal education ended in grade eight, at the age of 14. He talked himself into jobs at Inco as a general labourer, carpenter and machinist. In 1949 he entered the residential end of the construction business...

but largely housing government departments.

Today the federal government has stuck with modernist simplicity for its functional buildings, but has turned again to monumental architecture for projects of national significance. Most notable are the three museums that have been built in the national capital over the last three decades. The new homes of the Canadian Museum of Civilization

Canadian Museum of Civilization

The Canadian Museum of Civilization is Canada's national museum of human history and the most popular and most-visited museum in Canada....

, National Gallery of Canada

National Gallery of Canada

The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...

, and the Canadian War Museum

Canadian War Museum

The Canadian War Museum is Canada’s national museum of military history. Located in Ottawa, Ontario, the museum covers all facets of Canada’s military past, from the first recorded instances of death by armed violence in Canadian history several thousand years ago to the country’s most recent...

are unique examples of postmodern architecture. All cost vast amounts of money, but they have also met with international acclaim. They also have allowed the capital to become a showcase for buildings by three of Canada's most prominent architects: Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie

Moshe Safdie, CC, FAIA is an architect, urban designer, educator, theorist, and author. Born in the city of Haifa, then Palestine and now Israel, he moved with his family to Montreal, Canada, when he was 15 years old.-Career:...

, Douglas Cardinal

Douglas Cardinal

Douglas Joseph Cardinal, OC is a Canadian architect.Born of Métis and Blackfoot heritage, Cardinal is famous for flowing architecture marked with smooth lines, influenced by his Aboriginal heritage as well as European Expressionist architectureIn 1953, he attended the University of British...

, and Raymond Moriyama

Raymond Moriyama

Raymond Moriyama, CC, O.Ont is a Japanese-Canadian architect. He has designed several buildings at Brock University from the 1970s through the latest campus expansion and is the University's former chancellor....

Universities

Ottawa's three universities, Carleton University, Saint Paul University and the University of Ottawa, together embrace a wide variety of architectural styles.

The University of Ottawa

University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...

was founded in the nineteenth century, reflected architecturally by the University's buildings of that era, including 100 Laurier, formerly the 'Juniorat du Sacre-Coeur', a college of the University once ran by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. It currently houses the university's Department of Visual Arts and the University Gallery. Also notable is Tabaret Hall (erected 1905), a neoclassical building designed by A. Von Herbulis, which is Ottawa landmark and also inspired the University's logo. The architecture of the U of O is also noted for its embrace of brutalism, including Morisset Hall, a massive poured concrete building that houses the central libraries of the University. The SITE Building completed in 1997, a highly postmodern structure that has attracted much acclaim, breaking with the University's late 20th century trend of modernist architecture. The newest project, the Desmairais building at the prominent intersection of Laurier and Nicholas, houses the Telfer School of Management and the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Saint Paul University, an ecumenical Pontifical Catholic University which is loosely federated with the University of Ottawa, consists primarily of two buildings: Guigues Hall and Laframboise Hall. Both buildings have been constructed in the modern style, and are accompanied by a considerable amount of landscaping, as the Saint Paul campus is located on a prime spot along the Rideau River. The most notable building affiliated with Saint Paul University is the nearby Maison Deschatelets, a residence for religious scholars owned by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Carleton University

Carleton University

Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...

, founded in 1942, is located south of downtown on a verdant campus stretched between the Rideau Canal

Rideau Canal

and Rideau River

Rideau River

. It is itself home to one of Canada's premier schools of architecture. The design of Carleton's campus and buildings deliberately rejected monumentalism, focusing instead on the academic quadrangle

Quadrangle (architecture)

In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...

, aiming to present an egalitarian rather than elite sensibility. The University's current building projects include a new River Building adjacent to the Rideau River, which will be completed by 2011. The tallest academic building in Ottawa is Carleton's Dunton Tower; completed in 1971, the international style building sits along one side of the quadrangle and is Carleton's most visible architectural landmark.

Embassies

Ottawa's role as the nation's capital also means that it is home to over a hundred foreign missions. These embassies have an important role in the city's architecture. Many embassies and ambassadorial residences are located in notable heritage structures. Many of the old mansions built by lumber barons or early politicians now house embassies, and the foreign missions help keep many of these buildings in good condition. This is especially important in older parts of the city such as Sandy Hill

Sandy Hill

Sandy Hill is a bilingual neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario located just east of downtown. The neighbourhood is bordered on the west by the Rideau Canal and on the east by the Rideau River. To the north it stretches to Rideau Street and the Byward Market area while to the south it is bordered by...

and Rockcliffe Park. Examples include the Algerian Embassy in Fleck/Paterson House, the British high commissioner residence at Earnscliffe

Earnscliffe

Earnscliffe is a Victorian manor in Ottawa, Ontario. It is currently home of the British High Commissioner to Canada, and it was previously home to Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. The manor overlooks the Ottawa River just east of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge. It is located...

, and the High Commission of Brunei in Stadacona Hall. Those nations that choose to build a new structure to hold the embassy often incorporate local styles and motifs into their buildings, bringing added diversity to Ottawa's architecture. The new Saudi Arabian

Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Ottawa

Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Ottawa is Saudi Arabia's diplomatic mission to Canada. The building is located at 201 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, next to the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat and overlooking the Ottawa River...

and Kuwaiti

Embassy of Kuwait in Ottawa

Embassy of Kuwait in Ottawa is the diplomatic mission of Kuwait to Canada. The new embassy building was opened in 2003. It is located on Sussex Drive across the street from what used to be the home of the Canadian War Museum. The site had been home to a gas station until the 1960s, it then served...

incorporate distinctly Middle Eastern design elements, while the American embassy

Embassy of the United States in Ottawa

The United States Embassy in Ottawa is a building located in Ottawa which opened in 1999.-Original mission:Before this date the mission occupied a 1930s era building directly across from Parliament Hill at 100 Wellington Street...

is a distinctly Federal style structure.

Domestic architecture

Ottawa's domestic architecture is dominated by single family homes. There are also smaller numbers of semi-detached

Semi-detached

Semi-detached housing consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each house's layout is a mirror image of its twin...

, rowhouses, and apartment buildings. Most domestic buildings are clad in brick, with small numbers covered in wood or stone.

Ottawa has several older neighbourhoods clustered around the downtown core, including the Glebe

The Glebe

The Glebe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located just south of Ottawa's downtown area, with its northern border being demarcated by the Queensway highway. It is bounded by the Rideau Canal to the south and east. Many maps show the western edge as Bronson Avenue, but some also...

, Sandy Hill

Sandy Hill

, New Edinburgh

New Edinburgh

New Edinburgh is a small neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. It is located to the east of the downtown core. It is bordered on the west by the Rideau River, to the north by the Ottawa River, to the south by Beechwood Avenue, to the east the border is less regular but is marked in part by Springfield...

, Centretown

Centretown

Centretown is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada defined by the city as "the area bounded on the north by Gloucester Street and Lisgar Street, on the east by the Rideau Canal, on the south by the Queensway Freeway and on the west by Bronson Avenue." Traditionally it was all of Ottawa west of the...

, Lower Town

Lower Town

Lowertown is a district in the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to the east of downtown. It is bounded roughly by Rideau Street to the south, Sussex Drive and Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the west, and the Rideau River to the east...

and Old Ottawa South

Old Ottawa South

Old Ottawa South is an older urban neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. As of the Canada 2006 Census, 8,168 people lived in Old Ottawa South, a relatively small and compact neighbourhood, located between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River . The eastern boundary is defined by Riverdale Avenue and...

. These areas were mainly built up in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The houses in these areas tend to be in Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

or Queen Anne style

Queen Anne Style architecture

The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...

, but rarely have any conspicuous ornamentation. These are usually two or three storey single homes. Recent infill

Infill

Infill in its broadest meaning is material that fills in an otherwise unoccupied space. The term is commonly used in association with construction techniques such as wattle and daub, and civil engineering activities such as land reclamation.-Construction:...

s in these neighbourhoods have often taken the form of townhouses. Red brick, sometimes painted other colours, is the dominant surface material. Most houses have sizable lots, with a driveway running to a shed

Shed

A shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop....

, or a small lane way running behind the buildings. In the 1920s and 1930s new styles were imported, and many houses from this era take inspiration from the Arts and crafts

Arts and Crafts movement

Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

and Prairie styles.

Like most of North American, the suburbs built in the years after the Second World War were dominated by the ranch house. Areas like Alta Vista

Alta Vista (Ottawa)

Alta Vista is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its boundaries can be broadly described as: Smyth Road in the north, St. Laurent Boulevard in the east, Walkley Road and Heron Road in the south, and Bank Street and Riverside Drive in the west...

and the older parts of Nepean

Nepean, Ontario

- Recent quantity of snow :- History :Nepean Township, originally known as Township D, was established in 1792 and originally included what is now the central area of Ottawa west of the Rideau River. Jehiel Collins, from Vermont, is believed to have been the first person to settle in Nepean...

are dominated by these quickly built single storey houses with a garage

Garage (house)

A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...

attached and little overt styling. More recent suburbs have moved to larger homes, generally with two or more stories and with more ornamentation, such as gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

s, dormer windows, and balconies

Balcony

Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...

. This neo-eclectic style dominates that rapidly growing areas outside the Greenbelt, such as Kanata and Barrhaven.

Beginning in the 1960s a collection of large apartment buildings were erected in Ottawa. The first being the Juliana on Bronson St, built in 1962. During the years after the 1960s and 1970s Ottawa embraced a decentralized strategy, and while some of these buildings are located in the core, most are spread out across different parts of the city. Clusters of buildings were placed in former industrial areas such as Lees Avenue

Lees Avenue

Lees Avenue is both a road and a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. The area lies in the narrow stretch between the Rideau Canal and Rideau River south of Sandy Hill and the Queensway and is part of Old Ottawa East. The neighbourhood is dominated by five large apartment buildings, some of the...

and Hurdman. Others were erected in the suburbs that were being built in this era such as Britannia

Britannia (Ottawa)

Britannia is a neighbourhood and also a street in the west end of Ottawa, on the Ottawa River across from Aylmer.It was once a small cottage town to the west of Ottawa, but rapid growth in all directions during the 20th century meant that it was soon surrounded by the western suburb of Nepean. ...

in the west and Heron Gate

Heron Gate

Heron Gate is the name given to the neighbourhood in South-East Ottawa.The boundaries are Heron Road from the north, Alta Vista Drive on the west, the angle of Heron and Walkley on the east and Walkley Road in the south....

in the south. The towers from this era share an almost universal design, brick or concrete facades unadorned except for the large numbers of balconies given to each suite. With the general recession in the Canadian real estate market of the 1980s and early 1990s most such developments halted. In the early years of the 21st century residential high-rises have returned, mostly in the form of condominiums. Ottawa has not seen as extensive a boom in condo construction as Toronto or Vancouver, but several prominent structures have been built including the Minto Metropole

Minto Metropole

The Minto Metropole is a 33 story residential building in the Westboro neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario. At 108m, it is the third tallest building in Ottawa; five meters shorter than Place de Ville Tower C...

and a number of towers in the Byward Market

Byward Market

ByWard Market is a district in Lower Town located east of the government & business district, surrounding the market buildings and open-air market on George, York, ByWard and William Streets.The district is bordered on the west by Sussex Drive, on the...

area.

The Briarcliffe section of the Rothwell Heights was briefly a showcase for modernist domestic architecture in the early sixties, thanks to the influence of architects Walter Schreier, Brian Barkham, James W. Strutt

James W. Strutt: Architect

James W. Strutt was a Canadian architect. Inspired by American architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller, James Strutt's designs fostered the modernist age in Canadian architecture. He revered the former for incorporating nature into architectural design, and admired the latter for...

, Paul Schoeler and Matt Stankiewicz, as well as the area's proximity to the National Research Council, a magnet for international talent.

New residential developments in Ottawa include nationally significant structures featuring a modern sensitivity toward energy efficiency and sustainability. The first certified Passivehaus

Passive house

The term passive house refers to the rigorous, voluntary, Passivhaus standard for energy efficiency in a building, reducing its ecological footprint. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling. A similar standard, MINERGIE-P, is used in...

building designed and built in Canada for residential use was developed by Chris Straka of Vert Design Incorporated in 2010. The duplex, constructed in New Edinburgh

New Edinburgh

adjacent to the Rideau River, demonstrates the integration of modern sustainable architecture

Sustainable architecture

Sustainable architecture is a general term that describes environmentally conscious design techniques in the field of architecture. Sustainable architecture is framed by the larger discussion of sustainability and the pressing economic and political issues of our world...

into one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods.

Commercial and industrial architecture

While the economy is dominated by the federal government, and service industries that support government workers, Ottawa has had several other important industries. Before becoming the capital, Bytown

Bytown

Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. It was founded on on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod turning, and a letter from Governor General...

was a centre of the logging industry. The lumber industry remained prominent in Ottawa until the early twentieth century. The lasting legacy in Ottawa are the mansions and buildings constructed by the lumber barons who made up much of the economic elite of early Ottawa. Most notable was John Rudolphus Booth

John Rudolphus Booth

John Rudolphus Booth was a Canadian lumber and railway baron. He controlled logging rights for large tracts of forest land in central Ontario, and built a railway to extract his logs; and from Ottawa through to Vermont to export lumber and grain to the United States and...

, who commissioned several prominent structures from architect John W.H. Watts. While the lumber and pulp mills disappeared from Ottawa in the early twentieth century, Hull across the river remained an important industrial centre and its waterfront was largely industrialized. Most of those factories have now disappeared, but a few remain. Including the E. B. Eddy Company

E. B. Eddy Company

The E. B. Eddy Company was a Canadian pulp and paper company, now a division of Domtar Inc. It was originally incorporated in 1886 as The E. B. Eddy Manufacturing Company with Ezra Butler Eddy as its president. Eddy had begun business in 1854 making and selling wooden matches out of his home in...

plant directly across from the Parliament Buildings. Ottawa itself does today have some industrial areas, mostly clustered around the rail lines in the Cyrville and Tanglewood areas south of the core. There is virtually no heavy industry

Heavy industry

Heavy industry does not have a single fixed meaning as compared to light industry. It can mean production of products which are either heavy in weight or in the processes leading to their production. In general, it is a popular term used within the name of many Japanese and Korean firms, meaning...

, and most of the industrial buildings are warehouses serving as transshipment points for goods made elsewhere.

In recent years it has been the hi tech

High tech

High tech is technology that is at the cutting edge: the most advanced technology currently available. It is often used in reference to micro-electronics, rather than other technologies. The adjective form is hyphenated: high-tech or high-technology...

sector that has risen to prominence in Ottawa. Especially during the boom years of the 1990s Ottawa was often touted as "Silicon Valley North", home to such firms as Nortel

Nortel

Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...

, Corel

Corel

Corel Corporation from the abbreviation is a computer software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, that specializes in graphics processing, similar to Adobe Systems...

, JDS Uniphase

JDS Uniphase

JDS Uniphase is a company that designs and manufactures products for optical communications networks, communications test and measurement equipment, lasers, optical solutions for authentication and decorative applications, and other custom optics. It is headquartered in Milpitas, California in the...

, and Cognos

Cognos

Cognos was an Ottawa, Ontario-based company making business intelligence and performance management software. Founded in 1969, at its peak Cognos employed almost 3,500 people and served more than 23,000 customers in over 135 countries.Originally Quasar Systems Limited, it adopted the Cognos...

. This technology sector is almost wholly based in the western part of the city, especially around Kanata. Both Nortel and JDS Uniphase opted to build large compounds on the fringe of the city, while Corel has a series of towers by the Queensway. While the downturn severely hurt this industry, it has recovered in recent years with many smaller firms occupying office space in the west end.

Surviving commercial buildings from early Ottawa can be seen in some parts of downtown, most notably the heritage area along Sussex Drive

Sussex Drive

Sussex Drive is a major street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's major ceremonial and institutional routes....

and the Sparks Street

Sparks Street

Sparks Street is a street in downtown Ottawa, Canada that was converted into an outdoor pedestrian street in 1966, making it the earliest such street or mall in North America....

pedestrian mall. These tend to be low stone structures densely clustered together. The vast majority of Ottawa's commercial buildings are similar to those that would be found anywhere in North America. Downtown Ottawa has several commercial streets, the most important being Bank Street

Bank Street (Ottawa)

Bank Street is the major north-south road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs south from Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa, south through the neighbourhoods of Centretown, The Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Alta Vista, Hunt Club, and then through the villages of Blossom Park, Leitrim, South...

the lower levels of many office towers also contain shopping areas. One distinctive area is the Byward Market

Byward Market

, home to dozens of small shops and restaurants. The city has several shopping centres, the most central and prominent being the Rideau Centre

Rideau Centre

Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....

. The older suburbs each have central shopping malls, such as Billings Bridge Plaza

Billings Bridge Plaza

The Billings Bridge Plaza is a shopping centre located in Ottawa, Canada. Originally built in 1954, it was the first shopping centre built in the city. It did not become enclosed until 1972. It is located immediately south of the Rideau River on the corner of Bank Street and Riverside Drive,...

, Bayshore Shopping Centre

Bayshore Shopping Centre

Bayshore Shopping Centre is a major shopping mall located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, more specifically in the former city of Nepean, Ontario. The mall is one of the busiest in the National Capital Region as it attracts about 7 million visitors per year from across the city and the surrounding...

, Carlingwood Mall

Carlingwood Mall

Carlingwood Mall is a major mall located in the west end of the city of Ottawa, Ontario. It is operated by 20 Vic Management Incorporated. The mall opened in 1956 and was one of the city's first major shopping centres.-History:Simpsons-Sears department store was opened in 1955...

. In recent years the newest suburbs have been home to large collections of big-box store

Big-box store

A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store...

s rather than traditional malls, with sprawling such complexes in Kanata, Barrhaven, and South Keys.

Architects

Architects who have played an important role in designing Ottawa structures include:

George Bemi
George E. Bemi
George E. Bemi is a Canadian architect who practiced in Ottawa, Canada from 1955-2005. During his prolific career, he contributed over 300 buildings to the National Capital area, including significant projects such as St. Basil’s Church, the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, the downtown...

, Ottawa Public Library Main Branch, St. Basil’s Church, [Former]Ottawa Congress Centre
Moses C. Edey
Moses Chamberlain Edey
Moses Chamberlain Edey was an Ottawa architect who designed the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park, a National Historic Site and the Daly Building which was Ottawa's first department store....

, Aberdeen Pavilion
Aberdeen Pavilion
The Aberdeen Pavilion is an exhibition hall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Overlooking the Rideau Canal, it is located in Lansdowne Park, Ottawa's historic fairgrounds...

, Daly Building
Daly Building
The Daly Building was an historic department store and office building in Ottawa, Canada that was demolished with much controversy in 1991-92....
David Ewart
David Ewart
David Ewart was a Canadian architect who served as Chief Dominion Architect from 1896 to 1914.As chief government architect he was responsible for many of the federal buildings constructed in this period...

, Royal Canadian Mint
Royal Canadian Mint
The Royal Canadian Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures circulation coins on behalf of other nations. The Mint also designs and manufactures: precious and base metal collector coins; gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bullion coins; medals, as well as medallions and...

, Canadian Museum of Nature
Canadian Museum of Nature
The Canadian Museum of Nature is a natural history museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its collections, which were started by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1856, include all aspects of the intersection of human society and nature, from gardening to gene-splicing...

, Connaught Building
Connaught Building
The Connaught Building is a historic office building in Ottawa, Canada, owned by Public Works and Government Services Canada. It is located at 555 MacKenzie Street just south of the American Embassy...
Thomas Fuller
Thomas Fuller (architect)
Thomas Fuller was a Canadian architect.He was born in Bath, Somerset , where he trained as an architect. Living in Bath and London he did a number of projects. In 1845 he left for Antigua, where he spent two years working on a new cathedral before emigrating to Canada in 1857...

, original Parliament of Canada
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...

Centre Block
W.E. Noffke
W.E. Noffke
W. E. Noffke was a residential architect in Ottawa, Canada. His houses, some of the grandest in the city of the time, are in eclectic style, often with Mediterranean influences...

, Central Post Office
Central Post Office (Ottawa)
The Central Post Office is a historic building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The building was completed in 1939, replacing a Second Empire style office built in 1876. This original office was located in what is today Confederation Square, and was demolished in order to construct the grand public...

, Champagne Bath
Champagne Bath
The Champagne Bath, today officially the Champagne Fitness Center, is a historic bath in Ottawa, Canada. It is located on King Edward Avenue in Lower Town. Originally the structure was built for the greater hygiene of the largely working class residents of the neighbourhood, many of whom had no...
Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie, CC, FAIA is an architect, urban designer, educator, theorist, and author. Born in the city of Haifa, then Palestine and now Israel, he moved with his family to Montreal, Canada, when he was 15 years old.-Career:...

, the National Gallery of Canada
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...

and Old City Hall
Old City Hall (Ottawa)
The John G. Diefenbaker Building is a building in the New Edinburgh neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario. The building served as Ottawa's city hall from 1958 to 2000, and is commonly known as Old City Hall...
Thomas Seaton Scott
Thomas Seaton Scott
Thomas Seaton Scott was a Canadian architect. Born in Birkenhead, England he immigrated to Canada as a young man first settling in Montreal...

, Cartier Square Drill Hall
Cartier Square Drill Hall
The Drill Hall at Cartier Square is a dedicated military training facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It has been a local landmark since its construction in 1879. The drill hall is long and has two tall mansard towers....

, Parliament's West Block
Francis Conroy Sullivan, a number of buildings inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
John W.H. Watts, Booth House, Fleck/Paterson House, Australia House
Australia House (Ottawa)
Australia House in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is the official residence of the Australian High Commissioner to Canada. The house is located on a corner lot at 407 Wilbrod Street in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa, near to a number of other embassies and residences. The house was built in...
Paul Schoeler of Schoeler & Heaton Architects, Public Service Alliance of Canada Building
Public Service Alliance of Canada Building
The Public Service Alliance of Canada Building is a modernist elliptical office building in Ottawa, Ontario, constructed in 1968 as the national headquarters for the Public Service Alliance of Canada...

.

Map

Below is a map of the National Capital Region showing the prominent buildings and structures. Click on the stars to read articles on the individual buildings.

External links

Ottawa Regional Society of Architects

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.