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Wellington Street (Ottawa)
Encyclopedia
Street
A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...
in 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...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
most notable for being one of the first two streets laid out in 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 It was founded on on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855.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...
in 1826 (the other being Rideau Street
Rideau Street
Rideau Street is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district...
. It is the street upon which Parliament Hill
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...
, the Bank of Canada
Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank and "lender of last resort". The Bank was created by an Act of Parliament on July 3, 1934 as a privately owned corporation. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the Government of Canada...
, the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
, and the national library Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada is a national memory institution dedicated to providing the best possible account of Canadian life through acquiring, preserving and making Canada's documentary heritage accessible for use in the 21st century and beyond...
are located. The street runs to the west from the 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...
from the juncture where Rideau Street extends to the east. In the downtown it is the farthest north of the east-west running streets, being just south of the Ottawa River
Ottawa River
The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...
.
Just west of the bridge over the canal Wellington forms the northern edge of Confederation Square
Confederation Square
Confederation Square is an urban square in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and is considered the second most important ceremonial centre in Canada's capital city, after Parliament Hill...
, south of which runs Elgin Street
Elgin Street (Ottawa)
Elgin Street is a street in the Golden Triangle of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally named Biddy's Lane, it was later named after Lord Elgin....
. West of the square is the 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...
, home of the Prime Minister's Office. Also on this stretch, opposite Parliament Hill
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...
, is the former American embassy and future portrait gallery and the Wellington Building
Wellington Building
The Wellington Building is a Roman Corinthian Revival Style office building in Ottawa, Canada. It was built between 1924 and 1927 as Canadian headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The original structure was designed by D...
housing minor MPs. At Metcalfe, directly south of the Peace Tower, is an open plaza and the tourist information office. At Wellington and 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...
is the Wellington Building
Wellington Building
The Wellington Building is a Roman Corinthian Revival Style office building in Ottawa, Canada. It was built between 1924 and 1927 as Canadian headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The original structure was designed by D...
with the headquarters of the Bank of Canada
Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank and "lender of last resort". The Bank was created by an Act of Parliament on July 3, 1934 as a privately owned corporation. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the Government of Canada...
on the other side of Bank. Opposite the bank on the northern side of the street is the Confederation Building
Confederation Building (Ottawa)
The Confederation Building is a gothic revival office building in Ottawa, Canada. Located just west of the Parliament Buildings at Bank and Wellington Streets, it is generally considered part of Parliament Hill. Originally the land where the Confederation Building, and also the Supreme Court of...
.
Beyond the parliament area there are a number of other important buildings. The Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
is just to the west of the Confederation building, and opposite it is St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Ottawa)
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church is the oldest Presbyterian church in Ottawa, Canada.-Creation:St. Andrews is Ottawa's oldest Protestant [Presbyterian Church in Canada] congregation, with the original church opening in 1828...
and the East and West Memorial Buildings
East and West Memorial Buildings
The East Memorial Building and West Memorial Building are a pair of government buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Construction started in 1949 to house the rapidly growing Department of Veterans Affairs. The buildings were thus originally named the Veterans Memorial Buildings. They were...
. West of the Supreme Court is the National Library and Archives of Canada, with the Garden of the Provinces
Garden of the Provinces
The Garden of the Provinces is a site along Confederation Boulevard in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital city. It is bounded by the Sparks Street escarpment on the south,...
across the street. Between the Supreme Court and the National Library is a large open area that is today a mix of park land and large parking lots. Until the 1970s this was home to a cluster of temporary buildings that had been erected in the Second World War to provide much needed office space. In the 1970s there was a plan to build both a home for the Federal Court
Federal Court of Canada
The Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...
and the National Gallery
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...
. A design competition was even held for the National Gallery, but in the end the government cancelled both projects.
Wellington Street continues west past the Portage Bridge
Portage Bridge
The Portage Bridge crosses the Ottawa River just down-river from the Chaudière Bridge, joining the communities of Gatineau, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario, linking Laurier Street and Alexandre-Taché Boulevard in the Hull sector of Gatineau and Wellington Street at the Garden of the Provinces and...
, though Lebreton Flats
Lebreton Flats
LeBreton Flats is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. It lies to the west of Centretown neighbourhood, and to the north of Centretown West with "Nanny Goat Hill" as the dividing line...
, past the new 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...
, where it ends at the Ottawa River Parkway
Ottawa River Parkway
The Ottawa River Parkway is a four-lane scenic parkway along the Ottawa River in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from Carling Avenue near Connaught Avenue, to Booth Street at the Canadian War Museum. It is maintained by the National Capital Commission. The speed limit is , enforced by the Royal...
.
West of the Ottawa O-Train
Ottawa O-Train
The O-Train is a light-rail transit service in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada operated by OC Transpo. The present line runs north-south on a railway line, from Bayview to Greenboro, a distance of approximately...
Bayview station
Bayview Station (OC Transpo)
Bayview Station is a transitway and O-Train station in Ottawa, Ontario. The bus stop is at the eastern end of Scott Street when it becomes Wellington Street. The O-Train station, the northern terminus of the current line, is located on a stub-end track branching off from the railway line,...
, a separate segment (originally an extension of the same street) is now known as Wellington Street West
Wellington Street West
Wellington Street West is a 4-lane arterial road west of downtown Ottawa, Ontario and is not to be confused with the principal Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa. It begins at Bayview Road as a westbound one-way street until it merges with Somerset Street to attain its full right-of-way...
, and continues through the Hintonburg
Hintonburg
Hintonburg is a neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a historically working-class, predominately residential neighbourhood, with a commercial strip located along Wellington Street West, located to the west of downtown...
and Island Park
Island Park, Ottawa
Island Park is a neighbourhood in west Ottawa, Canada. It is bounded on the north by Scott Street, on the west by its namesake, Island Park Drive, on the south by The Queensway and on the east by Parkdale Avenue. The Island Park Community Association just covers homes on Island Park Drive.The...
neighbourhoods which becomes Richmond Road at Island Park Drive
Island Park Drive
Island Park Drive is a short, but important and scenic, north-south street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is one of several parkways in Ottawa administered by the National Capital Commission providing scenic routes throughout Canada's capital region....
.
Both sections of Wellington are four-lane historic urban arterial roads with a speed limit of 50 km/h (30 mph), although the flow is generally even slower than that due to high pedestrian traffic.
When Bytown was first laid out, the street was named after the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
, who ordered the construction of the Rideau Canal in 1825, and who is thus one of the founders of the city. Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada, told an Ottawa audience at Lansdowne Park
Lansdowne Park
Lansdowne Park is a historic sports, exhibition and entertainment facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by the City of Ottawa. It is located along Bank Street and is adjacent to the Rideau Canal, in central Ottawa...
in 1874: “The Duke of Wellington had previously decided that Ottawa was a most important point from a military point of view and had caused the Rideau canal to be built.”
A number of proposals have been made to "Canadianize" the street's name. After the death of former Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
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,...
renaming it after him was raised as a possibility, but this was not undertaken.
From Bronson Avenue
Bronson Avenue (Ottawa)
Bronson Avenue is a major north-south arterial road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from downtown at Sparks Street in the north through Centretown, past the Glebe and Carleton University and turns into the Airport Parkway, which is an expressway to the Macdonald-Cartier International...
until Rideau Street, Wellington is also known as Ottawa Road #34. From Western Avenue to Somerset Street
Somerset Street (Ottawa)
Somerset Street is a street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is divided into Somerset Street East and Somerset Street West by the Rideau Canal.-Somerset Street East:...
, Wellington is known as Ottawa Road #36.
Map
Wellington Street from Bay Street to the Rideau Canal showing the prominent structures located along it. See Downtown OttawaDowntown Ottawa
Downtown Ottawa is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Like other downtowns it is the commercial and economic centre of the city. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa's financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the...
for a map of the entire area.
Sources
, accessed 15 November 2006- West Wellington Community Association, accessed 15 November 2006