Fleet Street Pumping Station

Located in an unassuming grey building in LeBreton Flats under Old Wellington Street is the Fleet Street Pumping Station. Opened in 1875 as Ottawa’s first pumping station, it directs unfiltered water from the Ottawa River into the city’s supply system. At first, it used the energy of Chaudiere Falls to force untreated water into the system, until 1915 when an electric motor-driven station was built on Lemieux Island; a complete water purification plant was constructed in 1932. The station was built on the heels of a number of health epidemics in the Ottawa area, significantly reducing the amount of illness once city residents finally had access to clean drinking water.

Rideau Hall: Home of the Governor General

The majestic Rideau Hall (perched on a site that overlooks the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers) was originally an 11-room house that Scottish stonemason Thomas McKay built for himself and his family in the 1830s. Thirty years later, the federal government leased the house, along with 80 acres of adjacent “McKay’s bush,” for Governor General Viscount Monck and his household prior to their arrival in Ottawa. Upon Confederation, the house was purchased as the official residence of the Governor General, and underwent extensive renovations, including a new wing, conservatory, and, later on, an entrance lodge in 1868, a new ballroom in the early 1870s, and the rebuilding of the entire façade in 1910. Originally known only informally as “Rideau Hall” (Lady Stanley, wife of Governor General Lord Stanley, was chastised by Queen Victoria in 1889 for using the informal name instead of the official “Government House”), the name has stuck, and the building is commonly known by both titles. The present building boasts 60 rooms, some on display during summer tourist season. Unfortunately, since the capital was seen as a desolate and cultural backwater for many years, it was also where several early Governor General residents were heard complaining about their stay; fortunately for the mood of the surrounding city, there hasn’t been any equivalent complaining for decades.

Ottawa’s Carnegie Library

Library books were circulated in Ottawa as early as 1871, but the town had no building for that purpose until the early 1900s (before that, it was host to a number of reading rooms in hotel lobbies, as well as some “small fee-based libraries for working men”). In 1897, citizens formed the Public Library Board in order to persuade the city council to free funds to build a library. Eventually, Mayor William Morris wrote to American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (who, in the end, helped fund libraries around the world) soliciting funds for the proposed library. Carnegie donated $100,000 toward the building, provided the city would donate the land and $7,500 annually for upkeep. Although more than generous, many city councillors voted against the offer, believing their part of the bargain too expensive. But public opinion prevailed; the city purchased land at the corner of Metcalf and Laurier Streets, and construction began in 1905. Carnegie arrived in May 1906 to officially open the building, which was named the Carnegie Library in honour of his generosity.

Ottawa Cultural Centres

One of the most active community centres in the downtown core is the Glebe Community Centre. Originally called Abbotsford House, built in 1867 by Alexander Mutchmor, it had a few incarnations as a church before finally being sold to the City in 1974 to become the Glebe Community Centre. A centerpiece of the family-oriented neighbourhood, the main hall is a great place for kids and offers child-related
events throughout the week during the day (including a small kitchen for lunches) and a series of community and craft fairs on the weekends. The entire building was closed for renovation for a year and reopened again in 2005, and you can easily get lost in the maze of stairs and little tiny rooms throughout. 175 Third Ave., 564-1058

Centres of Culture

A highlight of Chinatown (or “Somerset Heights”) is the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre (381 Kent St., 235-1032), established in 1975 to advance the social and economic integration of people of Chinese descent into the mainstream society in Ottawa. The facility assists with settlement, counselling, language training, and community development.
Other community centres in Ottawa providing similar services for other communities across the region include the Italian Canadian Community Centre of the National Capital Region (101-865 Gladstone Ave., 567-4532), the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (21 Nadolny Sachs Private, 798-9818), the Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre (43 Capital Dr., Nepean, 225-8754), and the Somali Centre for Family Services (1719 Bank St., 526-2075). Not exactly a community centre, but along the same lines, there’s always the Irish Society of the National Capital Region, providing information on scholarships, genealogy, and various cultural events, including its annual Irish Week in March, when it hosts of the St Patrick’s Day parade.

The Diefenbunker

In 1959, when the Canadian government began digging a massive hole in a farmer’s field near Carp just west of Ottawa, it claimed that it was for an army signals installation (no one believed them); in actual fact, it was a four-level, underground emergency government headquarters. Opened in 1961 as an emergency shelter in the event of a nuclear war, it was designed to resist an indirect five-megaton blast (probably why it is out of town), and was built on a five-foot-deep gravel pad that would allow the whole building to shift during the explosion (even the boiler and the air conditioner were mounted on top of giant shock absorbers).

Once it became public, it was informally dubbed the “Diefenbunker” by the media in honour of the presiding Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. It stood at the ready for more than 30 years, a 100,000-square-foot outpost complete with hospital, morgue, Bank of Canada vault, and CBC studio. In its 30 years of operation, the only PM who ever visited it was Pierre Trudeau.

The shelter was decommissioned in 1994 and became the Cold War Museum in 1998; museum guides, many of them former bunker workers, take visitors on a 90-minute tour of the site. Other events have included exhibitions of Cold War-themed art (including work by Ottawa artist Adrian Göllner), a film club, and a lecture series. No cameras. Visits by reserved, guided tours only. Check website for hours and tour start times. 2911 Carp Rd., 839-0007 or 1-800-409-1965

Canadian Museum of Civilization

Across the river in Gatineau (just across from Nepean Point and the National Gallery of Canada) is the Canadian Museum of Civilization (100 Laurier St., 819-776-7000 or 800-555-5621), established to illustrate Canada’s history and heritage over 1,000 years of settlement. Some of the permanent attractions include the Children’s Museum; the world’s first convertible IMAX/Omnimax theatre; the Canada Hall, a setting for many life-size reconstructions from Canada’s past; and the Grand Hall, an expansive space housing six Pacific Coast indigenous houses and hosting a variety of demonstrations, First Nations ceremonies, and participatory activities. Other Museums & Historic Sites The Billings Estate Museum & Billings Bridge See Ottawa history depicted through the lives of two of the original (and two of the most important and successful) founding settlers of the city, Braddish and Lamira Billings, who established a community circa 1813 near what is now Billings Bridge. 2100 Cabot St., 247-4830

Canadian War Museum

In its new building just off LeBreton Flats that opened in 2005, the Canadian War Museum features an array of items, including one of Hitler’s cars, 19thcentury artillery pieces, tanks, and a variety of other artifacts. The museum showcases not only Canada’s military history during times of war, but also how the military helped shape the country itself. One of the highlights of the new building is Memorial Hall, designed to directly illuminate the headstone of the Unknown Soldier with sunlight each Remembrance Day at 11 a.m. A few weeks before the new building opened, one of its War of 1812-era guns – a Henry model 1808 Contract pistol – went missing from an open display case. After some media attention suggested an inside job, and the director of the museum encouraged the thief to return the item, “no questions asked,” the gun mysteriously reappeared a week later, hidden in a crate of other materials. As the police fingerprinted all the staff, working through more than 150 suspects who had access to the area, a couple of out-of-town workers simply never showed up again, not even to collect their last paycheques (who can say if any of this is related). Not that it would have been an easy item to get rid of. Worth up to $5,000, a flintlock pistol isn’t something you can drop off at the pawnshop. 1 Vimy Pl., 819-776-8600 or 800-555-5621

Parkdale Fire Hall

Built in 1923, the Parkdale Fire Station on 424 Parkdale Avenue, designated a municipal heritage building in 1996, is one of only three pre-1930 fire stations still standing in Ottawa. It’s also one of the few architect-designed buildings in the neighbourhood of Hintonburg. Originally used as a fire station until 1986, the building then housed a food bank and artists’ studios, and is currently used as a cooking school, massage therapy clinic, and office space.

World Exchange Plaza: a 20-Story Timepiece

Finally completed in 2005 after more than a decade of construction, the 20-storey World Exchange Plaza takes up the entire block between Metcalf and O’Connor Streets south of Queen Street, housing a variety of companies including CTV, Microscoft, and TD Canada Trust, and is home to a shopping mall and a movie theatre, as well as life-size models of narwhales and belugas hanging from the ceiling. If you don’t have a watch and can’t tell the time by looking at the sun, you can always watch the ball on top of the World Exchange.

The Old Registry Office

Known as the Old Registry Office, that little building on the west side of the Rideau Centre at 70 Nicholas Street was erected in 1873 and used as the city registry until 1909. Eventually, it was sold to the federal government in 1935 and has remained empty and unused now for years. One of only four of its kind left in Ontario, it remains an understated but impressive example of Victorian architecture, with barrel-vaulted ceiling and outside adornments. The Registry was later sold to the Viking-Rideau Corporation in the 1990s without any stipulation that the building had to be preserved, and there has been talk of moving or even destroying it so the Rideau Centre and the Ottawa Congress Centre can be expanded. For a while, literary historian Steve Artelle was in talks with the city to let the Ottawa Literary Heritage Society use the space as a museum, but so far, nothing has come of it.

Next Page »