This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2009) |
John G. Diefenbaker Building | |
---|---|
Former names | Ottawa City Hall (1958–2001) |
Alternative names | Old City Hall |
General information | |
Type | Office building |
Architectural style | Modern, International |
Location | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
Address | 111 Sussex Drive |
Town or city | Ottawa |
Country | Canada |
Current tenants | Global Affairs Canada |
Named for | John G. Diefenbaker |
Construction started | 1956 |
Completed | 1958 |
Renovated | 1988–1994 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | John Bland (original 1958 building) Moshe Safdie (1994 expansion) |
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 August 2, 1958, to January 1, 2001, and afterward was commonly known as Old City Hall. Purchased in 2003 by the Government of Canada, it was known by its municipal address, 111 Sussex Drive, until September 2011 when it was renamed after Canada's 13th prime minister, John Diefenbaker. [1] The building is located on Green Island where the Rideau River empties into the Ottawa River.
After Ottawa's city hall on Elgin Street was destroyed by a fire in 1931, the city operated for the next 27 years out of temporary offices in the Transportation Building. The new international style building was opened on August 2, 1958, by Princess Margaret as a member of the Canadian Royal Family. It was designed by John Bland of the firm Rother, Bland, and Trudeau, and is considered one of the most important International Style buildings in Canada, winning the Massey Medal for design in 1959. The structure was noted for being the first building in Ottawa to be fully air conditioned. The original drawings for the building are held at the McGill University Library Special Collections as part of the John Bland Archive.
In 1988, Ottawa mayor Jim Durrell initiated a controversial scheme to expand the building, quadrupling its original size. Architect Moshe Safdie was chosen for the redesign, completed in 1994. [2] Conflict soon broke out between Safdie and the city. [3] Safdie demanded a higher fee and delayed the project for several months before the city acquiesced to his demand. Further disagreements broke out over a pair of eighteen story observation towers. City council voted to cut the towers to save the million dollars they cost. This infuriated Safdie who felt the towers were essential to the design. The panel that picked the design had singled out the tower as one of the highlights of the design. Eventually the city compromised and a bare scaffold was erected instead.
The new building caused considerable controversy in the city with some liking the design, but others seeing the $72 million structure a waste of money.[ citation needed ] The building was much larger than the city needed and for several years large sections were vacant.[ citation needed ]
In 1999, offices were rented out to Global Affairs Canada, which is based at the nearby Lester B. Pearson Building. After Ottawa's amalgamation on January 1, 2001, it was decided that the new municipal government would be based at a new location: the former headquarters of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton would become Ottawa City Hall. This building was considerably smaller, but was located closer to the city's centre.
In 2003, the former city hall was sold to the federal Public Works Department. Today the building mainly houses Global Affairs Canada employees. For several months in 2004, it was the site of the Gomery Inquiry hearings during the Sponsorship Scandal.
Moshe Safdie is an Israeli-Canadian-American architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible design throughout his six-decade career. His projects include cultural, educational, and civic institutions; neighborhoods and public parks; housing; mixed-use urban centers; airports; and master plans for existing communities and entirely new cities in the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia. Safdie is most identified with designing Marina Bay Sands and Jewel Changi Airport, as well as his debut project Habitat 67, which was originally conceived as his thesis at McGill University. He holds legal citizenship in Israel, Canada, and the United States.
Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, is a housing complex at Cité du Havre, on the Saint Lawrence River, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, designed by Israeli-Canadian-American architect Moshe Safdie. It originated in his master's thesis at the School of Architecture at McGill University and then an amended version was built for Expo 67, a World's Fair held from April to October 1967. Its address is 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy, next to the Marc-Drouin Quay. Habitat 67 is considered an architectural landmark and a recognized building in Montreal.
The 1957 Canadian federal election was held June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 23rd Parliament of Canada. In one of the greatest upsets in Canadian political history, the Progressive Conservative Party, led by John Diefenbaker, brought an end to 22 years of Liberal rule, as the Tories were able to form a minority government despite losing the popular vote to the Liberals.
The Major-General George R. Pearkes Building is the principal location of Canada's National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) and is located in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. NDHQ comprises a collection of offices spread across the Major-General George R Pearkes Building, however it is primarily based at Major-General George R. Pearkes Building at 101 Colonel By Drive in Ottawa.
The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a 2,071-seat theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the southeast corner of University Avenue and Queen Street West, across from Osgoode Hall. The land on which it is located was a gift from the Government of Ontario. It is the home of the Canadian Opera Company (COC) and the National Ballet of Canada. The building's modernist design by was created by Canadian firm Diamond Schmitt Architects, headed by Jack Diamond. It was completed in 2006, and the interior design includes an unusual glass staircase.
Green Island in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is an island at the junction of the Rideau River, just off Sussex Drive in Ottawa at the Rideau Falls at the confluence with the Ottawa River. It is situated near the neighbourhood of New Edinburgh.
St. Albans Anglican Church is an Anglican church in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is one of Ottawa's oldest surviving church buildings and one of its most historic.
The current Ottawa City Hall is the city hall of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The downtown complex consists of two connected buildings: a modern wing located on Laurier Avenue and a 19th-century heritage wing located on Elgin Street. Although City Hall has frontage on two major streets, the main entrance is on Laurier Avenue, and the municipal address is 110 Laurier Avenue West.
The Transportation Building, 10 Rideau Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is a historic Gothic revival/Chicago school office tower. The building stands at the intersection of Sussex Drive and Rideau Street.
The Wellington Building is a Beaux-Arts architecture office building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was built between 1924 and 1927 as Canadian headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The original structure was designed by D. Everett Waid; in 1959, the more restrained classical east wing of the building was added.
The Victoria Building is an Art Deco office building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 140 Wellington Street, just across from the Parliament of Canada. It houses the offices of a number of parliamentarians, mostly members of the Senate of Canada. The building, designed by John Albert Ewart, was completed in 1928 by private developers, though the federal government quickly leased much of it. It has held a wide variety of tenants. It was the first home of the Embassy of France (1928-1939) and the Bank of Canada from 1935 to 1938. It also housed the Japanese legation in 1931. From 1938 to 1964 it housed the CBC and for a time was also the home of Ashbury College. The federal government took over the building in 1973 and in 2003 it was renovated.
LeBreton Flats known colloquially as The Flats is a neighbourhood in Somerset Ward in central Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It lies to the west of Centretown neighbourhood, and to the north of Centretown West. The Ottawa River forms the western and northern limit, with the western side being a wider area of the river known as Nepean Bay.
Ottawa, Ontario's second city hall was built in 1877 on Elgin Street between Queen and Albert Streets and next to Ottawa's First City Hall, built in 1848.
The first city hall for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, was built in 1849 on Elgin Street between Queen and Albert Streets.
North Gower is a small village in eastern Ontario, originally part of North Gower Township, now part of the city of Ottawa. Surrounding communities include Richmond, Kemptville, Kars and Manotick. Public high school students in this area go to South Carleton High School in Richmond. Elementary school students go to Marlborough Public School in North Gower.
Gillett & Johnston was a clockmaker and bell foundry based in Croydon, England from 1844 until 1957. Between 1844 and 1950, over 14,000 tower clocks were made at the works. The company's most successful and prominent period of activity as a bellfounder was in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was responsible for supplying many important bells and carillons for sites across Britain and around the world.
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 and functional. However, the city is also marked by Romantic and Picturesque styles of architecture such as the Parliament Building's Gothic Revival architecture.
This is a timeline of the history of Ottawa.
John Bland was a Canadian architect and educator. He played a fundamental role in transforming architectural education in Canada, spending more than five decades teaching at the McGill School of Architecture including a 31-year tenure as director, under which Bland transformed the School from a Beaux-Arts institution into one based on contemporary design principles. He also introduced the first Canadian graduate programs in Architecture. Many important individuals in architecture learned under Bland, including Arthur Erickson and Moshe Safdie, as well as the heads of architecture schools in at least six countries. In addition to his teaching career, Bland was a practicing architect, working alongside Harold Spence-Sales prior to joining McGill and collaborating with many Montreal architects on other projects throughout his tenure. He was the president of the Province of Quebec Association of Architects in 1953, and served on the council from 1942 to 1954. He was also a member of the Council of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) from 1950 to 1954, and was elected to the RAIC College of Fellows in 1954 and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) in 1967.