Ottawa Greenspaces

There were complaints about Ottawa city planner Jacques Gréber when he started creating a horseshoe of green space around Ottawa in the 1950s (frustrated developers called him “Jacques Grabber”). But thanks to him, we now have 200 square kilometres (124 sq mi) of greenbelt around the downtown core alone. For picnicking, swimming, Frisbee, hiking, snowshoeing – you name it – here are some locations worth considering (depending on your goals, of course). (Inline skaters can use the miles and miles of paths that line either side of the Rideau Canal, from Wellington Street/Rideau Street all the way down to Hog’s Back, and back.)

Andrew Haydon Park, Acres Road and Carling Avenue: In the west end of the city, this park is named after a former mayor of the City of Nepean. It sits on the Ottawa River and has a view of Britannia Bay. Includes a picnic area, artificial lake, road concession, and yacht club. Considering the state of some parts of the Ottawa River, swimming is not recommended.

Commissioners Park (at Dow’s Lake), Carling Avenue at Queen Elizabeth Driveway: Home to the Dow’s Lake Boathouse, with concessions and restaurants, this is a popular spot during many regattas, as well as during the Tulip Festival in May, and the Winterlude carnival in February.

Confederation Park, Elgin Street at Laurier Avenue: Across the street from the new City Hall (110 Laurier Ave. W.), this is the site of various events throughout the year, including Winterlude, the Ottawa Jazz Festival, and Canada Day celebrations, as well as many others. The fountain here once stood in Trafalgar Square in London, England.

Dow’s Lake: Formerly Dow’s Swamp, Dow’s Lake was created during the construction of the Rideau Canal, and its proximity to Confederation Park, the Central Experimental Farm, and Dow’s Lake Boathouse make it a good spot for picnickers and boat enthusiasts.

Garden of the Provinces, Wellington at Bay Streets: Across from the Library and Archives Canada building, this park commemorates the union of 10 provinces and the territories with flags, bronze plaques featuring the provincial flowers, and a symbolic fountain overlooking LeBreton Flats and the start of the Ottawa River Parkway.

Gatineau Park: a 15-minute drive north of downtown Ottawa, this park is home to a whole slew of trails for biking, walking, snowshoeing, skiing, or hiking. Hog’s Back Falls (officially known as Prince of Wales Falls), Hog’s Back Road at Colonel By Drive: Near Carleton University, these falls are where the Rideau Canal passes through the first locks in Ottawa, with a swing bridge to enable sailing boats to pass under the roadway.

Hog’s Back Park and nearby Vincent Massey Park are both popular spots. Jacques Cartier Park, Rue Laurier, Gatineau: This park, situated between the Interprovincial and Macdonald-Cartier bridges, has great views of Rideau Falls and Nepean Point, and is a popular festival events location, with the Outaouais Tourism office nearby, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization across the street. Pathways connect to Leamy Lake and the Gatineau River.

Leamy Lake Ecological Park and Archaeological Site, Leamy Lake Parkway, accessed from Boulevard Maissoneuve, Gatineau: Where the Gatineau River meets the Ottawa River, this was once a stopping-off point for the First Nations peoples as well as French fur traders, and has since been recognized as a rich site for archaeological digs. The park also has a lake with swimming and windsurfing, and a concession stand. The new Casino de Hull is directly across from Leamy Lake beach.

Major’s Hill Park, Mackenzie Avenue (behind the Château Laurier Hotel): The city’s oldest park, it was developed in 1874 for its view of the Parliament Buildings, and was once the home of Lieutenant-Colonel John By (though his home is long gone). Currently the park is the site of the Astrolabe Theatre and the noon gun, fired daily off Nepean Point.

Mer Bleue Conservation Area, Anderson Road off Inness Road: This parkland is a peat bog, more typical of what you might find in Canada’s far north, despite being located southeast of the city.

New Edinburgh Park, Stanley Avenue and Dufferin Road: On the eastern bank of the Rideau River, this park has plenty of wildlife, including blue herons, muskrats, turtles, and butterflies. In the winter, there is an outdoor skating rink. Pine Grove Forest, Hunt Club at Conroy Roads: This 12-square-kilometre (7.5-sq-mi) urban forest, managed by the National Capital Commission, combines natural and planted forest, and offers wide and level trails for hiking.

Vincent Massey Park, Heron Road (west of Riverside Dr., 733-7704): Just north of Hog’s Back Park and Mooney’s Bay, this park, named for Canada’s first Canadian-born Governor General, is used for events involving large groups, with numerous picnic tables and fireplaces as well as softball fields, horseshoe pits, and a bandstand; in winter, it has some of the best tobogganing hills in the city. A parking fee of $4 is charged from May to October each year.

For the Birds

One of the foremost birders in North America is Ottawa-born Bruce Di Labio, who currently lives just outside Ottawa in the village of Carp. A member of the Ottawa Field- Naturalist’s Club (which is the oldest natural history club in Canada, dating back to 1879), Di Labio spent much of the 1980s working for the Museum of Nature in ornithology before working for the Canadian Nature Federation as Staff Naturalist and finally launching his own birding business in 1998. He conducts birding classes, field trips, and local group tours in Canada, and has also led birding tours to Arizona, Alaska, Texas, New Jersey, California, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Churchill, Manitoba. (See also the Ottawa Field-Naturalists)

Life’s a Beach

If you feel safer with lifeguard supervision while you’re out in the sand, here are some beaches the City keeps an eye on: Britannia Beach (2805 Carling Ave., 820- 1211), Mooney’s Bay Beach (2926 Riverside Dr., 248-0863), and Westboro Beach (follow Ottawa River Pkwy. to Kitchissippi Lookout).

The Ottawa Senators

Organized hockey in Ottawa arguably originated in 1890, when the Ontario Hockey Association was formed, and the Ottawa team (they were known simply as that at the time) became the first OHA champions. In 1903, the Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup, the first of 10 times (so far) that the trophy was awarded to an Ottawa team. For many years, hockey was played at the auditorium at the corner of O’Connor and Argyle, which opened at the start of the 1923–24 ice hockey season, but closed in 1967, to be sold to the YMCAYWCA as the site for their new high-rise building.

In 1989, Ottawa real estate developer Bruce Firestone launched his bid to revive the Ottawa Senators, a National Hockey League team that had been defunct since 1934. Firestone brought in Frank Finnigan – the last surviving member of the 1927 Stanley Cupwinning Senators – as the bid’s public face. The bid was a success and in 1992, Ottawa had its team back. But by 1993, new owner Rod Bryden was already struggling to keep the team alive, though he managed to borrow $188 million for the Senators’ arena, the Palladium, since renamed the Corel Centre, and then Scotiabank Place (1000 Palladium Dr., 599-0100), and even built off-ramps from the highway to ease arena access. Making the playoffs (or at least getting pretty close) each year, the revived Ottawa Senators are usually one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, but to date they still haven’t managed to win back the Cup they first won in 1903.

In 1989, Ottawa real estate developer Bruce Firestone launched his bid to revive the Ottawa Senators, a National Hockey League team that had been defunct since 1934. Firestone brought in Frank Finnigan – the last surviving member of the 1927 Stanley Cupwinning Senators – as the bid’s public face. The bid was a success and in 1992, Ottawa had its team back. When the Ottawa Senators returned to the NHL in 1992, the franchise retired the number eight, which was the number of Frank Finnigan, captain of the original Senators and a local boy from Shawville, a village in Pontiac County across the river in Quebec. Unfortunately, since Finnigan had died the year before, he not only didn’t see his number retired (the first and so far only one the team has thus honoured), he never saw the resurgence of the franchise.

There’s a restaurant named Frank Finnigan’s in Scotiabank Place, festooned with photographs and memorabilia. But by 1993, new owner Rod Bryden was already struggling to keep the team alive, though he managed to borrow $188 million for the Senators’ arena, the Palladium, since renamed the Corel Centre, and then Scotiabank Place (1000 Palladium Dr., 599-0100), and even built off-ramps from the highway to ease arena access. Making the playoffs (or at least getting pretty close) each year, the revived Ottawa Senators are usually one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, but to date they still haven’t managed to win back the Cup they first won in 1903.

Good Fans, Bad Fans

An unfortunate offshoot of “us” is “them,” and in May 2007, some visiting Buffalo Sabres fans saw the worst of us when Buffalo resident Renee Luck was attacked post-game in Ottawa by Senators fans during the Eastern Conference finals. However, it should be pointed out that she was rescued by other Senators fans. The Ottawa franchise quickly offered free tickets, travel, and accommodation to Luck after hearing about the incident, and hopefully her first visit to Ottawa won’t be the last.

The Only Place to Score

During the 2004 NHL strike, Ottawa businesswoman and nationally known sex expert Sue McGarvie spiced things up from the then-new location of her Love and Romance store – not far from the hockey arena in Kanata – with lingerie ads that said, “Why they’re still making passes in Kanata,” and “The only place to score in Kanata this season.” Under new ownership, the store still exists in three Ottawa locations as the Couples Love and Romance Store (1489E Merivale Rd., 727-5534) and as the Couples Romance Stores (F-876 Montreal Rd., 744-0540 and 1473 Richmond Rd., 820-6032).

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

The Peace Tower

The Peace Tower is the Canadian Parliament’s central architectural feature. This massive clock tower sits in the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian parliament buildings. The present tower replaces the 55 m (180 ft) Victoria Tower after it burned down in 1916, along with most of the Centre Block. It today serves as a Canadian icon,and appearing on the Canadian fifty-dollar and twenty-dollar bills.

Designed by Jean Omer Marchand and John A. Pearson, the tower is 92.2 metres (302 ft 6 in) tall, and adorned with roughly 370 gargoyles, grotesques, and friezes, in keeping with the High Gothic Victorian style of the rest of the parliamentary complex. The walls are made of Nepean sandstone, and the roof is actually reinforced concrete covered with sheet copper.

Save the Flag!

There was a movement in Ottawa to preserve the historic Peace Tower flag that managed to survive the 1916 Parliament Hill Fire. Some five years after the fire, it flew temporarily over the new Peace Tower before moving into storage. Needing some $6,000 to restore the withered flag in 2006, the Bytown Museum attempted to raise the funds from various levels of government, including directly asking Members of Parliament, but was unsuccessful. Recently, the museum went to the media, saying that even $20 from every Member of Parliament would ensure the flag could be properly conserved and mounted for long-term display. Of course, once the public was made aware of the controversy surrounding the survival of the flag, various MPs and senators, as well as members of the public, donated roughly $5,000 to help. The flag has since been restored and is currently on display in the Bytown Museum.

Rockcliffe Park

The original village of Rockcliffe Park, situated just west of Lowertown and Vanier, belonged to Thomas McKay, the Rideau Canal’s contractor; for many years, his widow lived in a stone mansion on the northern boundary of the village. Incorporated as a municipality to preserve its pastoral nature (and to hold back the building boom of the 1920s), it had only a score of permanent homes; otherwise, it was occupied by summer cottages and two private schools, Ashbury College (for boys, established 1910, whose students included actor Matthew Perry, among others), and Elmwood School for girls (established 1915, where author Elizabeth Smart attended).

Because of deliberate laws against buildings for any purpose “other than as a single detached family dwelling,” there are no apartments or businesses, meaning that there might be a lot of space for kids to play on the streets, but no doctor’s offices nor businesses to help pay taxes, which has caused Rockcliffe Park to have some of the highest property tax rates in the city. Despite becoming part of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in 1969, it still retained its status as a village, but was finally amalgamated into the City of Ottawa in 2001.

A Stately Manor

One of the earliest and most impressive buildings in Rockcliffe is the Apostolic Nunciature (724 Manor Ave.), home of the Pope’s representative in Canada. The huge structure is reminiscent of an English lord’s estate, and comes complete with an arched gate. Assessed at approximately $5.3 million in 2000, the mansion was built in 1838. It was dubbed “Rockcliff” for the limestone cliffs that border the Ottawa River. The village itself was later named in its honour. The mansion, also known as the Rockcliffe Manor House, was purchased by the Holy See in 1962.

Samuel de Champlain: a Monument With a View

With the help of local guides, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reached the present-day site of Ottawa on June 3, 1613, portaging two days later past Chats Falls on the upper Ottawa (then the Grand
River), and paddling along Lac des Chats up to what is now Arnprior, Braeside, and Sand Point. In 1915, a monument to de Champlain – depicting him gazing wisely through an astrolabe – was unveiled at Ottawa’s Nepean Point, which is behind the National Gallery of Canada (just west of Sussex Dr. and St. Patrick St.).

Unfortunately, the sculptor Hamilton MacCarthy had de Champlain holding the instrument upside down (it took years for anyone to notice). Nepean Point also boasts a lovely view of the area, including Gatineau, Quebec, and Chaudière Falls. The Astrolabe Theatre (just behind the Gallery; 239-5000) at the point features a 700-seat amphitheatre and is the scene of concerts and shows throughout the summer.

The Long Journey of the Astrolabe

It’s believed that de Champlain lost his astrolabe, a 17th-century model of the ancient navigational instrument, during a difficult portage through the Cobden area northwest of Ottawa in 1613. The device was lost for centuries until turning up in a farmer’s field in the Ottawa Valley, dug up by a plow. Marked “Paris 1603,” the instrument was found in 1867 by a young boy who was clearing brush with his father. It was eventually sold to a Toronto businessman, then purchased by an American collector for $500. The new owner willed it to the New York Historical Society upon his death in 1942. Canadian officials worked for years to repatriate the item unsuccessfully until 1989, when the astrolabe finally returned to Ottawa in conjunction with the opening of the Museum of Civilization; the Ministry of Communications and Culture paid the American Museum a “token” fee of $250,000. It now holds pride of place at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, just across the Ottawa River from the statue on Nepean Point. Some question the authenticity of the object, but apparently there are only 35 such surviving astrolabes from the 17th century like the one de Champlain used.

The Department of Missing Monuments

In 1966, the Department of the Secretary of State proposed four monuments for Parliament Hill. Two of them – tributes to Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St Laurent – were commissioned, and can be easily found on the Hill. But what happened to the other two, built for lesser-known prime ministers of the 20th century, Arthur Meighen and Richard Bedford Bennett? The first, for Meighen, was completed in 1970 but never received final approval by the government and remained in storage for years before finally being installed in 1987, in Lind Park, in the town of St. Marys, Ontario, the town nearby to his birthplace and where he was eventually buried. The Bennett statue was rejected at the model stage not, as then-Secretary of State Judy LaMarsh explained, for a lack of artistic merit, but because the work wasn’t suitable “as representations to future generations of the statesmen of the past.” Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s words on the two statues were far more specific, referring to the Meighen statue as “the greatest monstrosity ever produced – a mixture of Ichabod Crane and Daddy Longlegs,” and the Bennett model as a “mummy.” With these monuments now hidden somewhere in the National Capital Commission storage, it is unclear if replacement statues of the two will ever be commissioned.

Fairmont Château Laurier

One of the original Canadian Pacific hotels built at the advent of the national rail line, The Fairmont Château Laurier (1 Rideau St., 241-1414), like many other such hotels in the country, was built in close proximity to the original Ottawa train station (now the Conference Centre). Commissioned in 1907 by American-born railwayman Charles Melville Hays, the hotel emulated the French Renaissance style, using granite blocks for the base, buff Indiana limestone for the walls, and copper for the roof (a few years ago, the copper was replaced, giving the heart of downtown a temporary reflective glow, before oxidizing darker brown to what will become, again, green).

Unfortunately, days before the scheduled opening of the hotel in 1912, Hays was returning from England – with new dining room furniture in tow – aboard the RMS Titanic; yes, that Titanic. Hays perished, and rumours abound of his ghost still wandering the halls of the hotel. Walk through the basement and you can see a display of captioned photos telling the story of some of the hotel’s (and Ottawa’s) early history, including Hays’ Titanic crossing. This is where U2 might stay when they come to town, or various visiting diplomats; hang around the lobby and see who walks by. Some of the guests over the years have included Shirley Temple, Nelson Eddy, Billy Bishop, Roger Moore, Bryan Adams, Karen Kain, Harry Belafonte, Nelson Mandela, and Marlene Dietrich.

Come Back , Shane !

American actor Alan Ladd – famous for his starring role in the 1953 western Shane, and for being fatherin- law to Cheryl (from the original Charlie’s Angels TV show) – stayed at the Château Laurier in the early 1950s while re-doing dialogue for the film Saskatchewan (1954). While he was here, he broke his ankle capering in the pool – the apparent result of an attempt to entertain his daughter. If you want, you can swim in their art deco pool yourself, and see where Ladd did it, for only 20 dollars. Though, do be careful.

Drinks with the PM’s Wife

The hotel bar, Zoé’s Lounge, is named after Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier’s wife, Zoé Laurier Lafontaine, a young piano teacher. With live entertainment, Zoé’s has a popular cocktail hour and reservation-only afternoon tea (241-1414).

Canada’s Parliament Buildings

Thought originally to be an Algonquin camp (given the view of the Ottawa River), the modern site of Parliament Hill would first become a military barrack (Barrack Hill). But when Queen Victoria dubbed us Capital of the Province of Canada (a region made up predominantly of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, what are now Ontario and Quebec) in 1857, construction of the Parliament Buildings began.

Considered the centre of the region, the neo-gothic stone buildings and the spire of the Peace Tower house the heart of political life in Canada, including the Senate, the House of Commons, and the Library of Parliament. The Peace Tower houses a 53-bell carillon, a huge clock, and the memorial chamber commemorating Canada’s war dead. Through all of this, the seat of Canadian government still sits on disputed Algonquin lands.

In 1916, a huge fire destroyed everything but the library. Construction of the new Parliament Buildings turned out to be plagued by the same problems as the original. Shortages due to World War I, coupled with
construction difficulties, delayed the expected completion date by several years before the government’s new digs finally opened in 1920. The new Centre Block was sympathetic in style with the existing buildings on Parliament Hill, but close inspection, especially from the rear where the comparisons with the original library are easily made, will reveal the differences. The new building was constructed to be resistant to fire, incorporating intricate stone carvings in place of much of the original wood paneling. As well, since they used soil taken from a landfill across the river, an Aboriginal burial site where the Museum of Civilization currently sits; some say it is entirely possible that the second Parliament Buildings include fragments of native bone in its structure.

Currently housed on Wellington Street, the original Parliament Buildings (both pre- and post-fire versions) were expected to house the entire government of Canada, but with new provinces and new portfolios, the original buildings quickly became too small. The thinking for the subsequent construction was, “the closer the better,” with newer foundations broken for the Confederation Building, the Supreme Court, the Library and Archives Canada Building, the Langevin Block, the Bank of Canada, the Department of Trade and
Commerce, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the original United States Embassy.

There was talk a number of years ago about creating some new buildings on the Hill for the sake of new office space, but the state of disrepair in some of the buildings is so advanced that prominent stonemasons were warning as recently as May 2007 that “without emergency repairs, someone could be killed by falling masonry,” and that even a minor earthquake could do permanent damage. A problem they’ve known about for years, major repairs on the West Block have been going on for some time, but the state of disrepair might simply be overtaking government inaction. Unfortunately, some of the recent government action in the Langevin Block included Prime Minister Stephen Harper lining an entire hallway with portraits of himself, just outside of his office.

For general tourist information, a good place to check while on your way through the Parliament Buildings site, or before you get there, is Capital Infocentre de la Capitale at 90 Wellington Street (across from Parliament Hill, 239-5000).

Bottoms Up!

One of the features of the original Parliament Buildings was a bar directly beneath the House of Commons – with a stairwell leading directly down from the floor of the House—where journalists used to hang out, drinking and keeping tabs on the goings—on of the country.

Extreme Makeover

When the original Parliament Buildings were constructed, they were well over-budget, and the landscaping was left as a mess of mud for quite some time before the buildings’ architect Thomas Fuller was given the go-ahead to start. Inspired by New York’s Central Park, the original landscaping included a fountain in front of the tower (that nobody liked). Once Fuller left Ottawa, those in charge of the grounds quickly removed the fountain and replaced it with the eternal flame.

The Guns of Parliament

Manufactured in England in 1807 and purchased by the Postmaster General for $250.45, the nine-pound muzzle loader Noon Gun was originally authorized to fire a daily single round to mark the stroke of noon, enabling post office clerks to maintain mail service on a correct schedule. First used as a ship’s cannon, it was donated by the British Army to the British Garrison in Canada as a souvenir of the Crimean War, and was placed on Parliament Hill between the East Block and the Parliamentary Library. Its first signal was fired at noon on April 26, 1869. Following the fire of 1916, the gun was removed to Major’s Hill Park, and is now fired daily off Nepean Point at noon, Monday through Saturday, and at 10 a.m. on Sundays, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, and Thanksgiving Day, so as not to disturb nearby congregations. One notable misfire occurred in 1966, when the appointed gunner arrived to find the gun missing. It was soon retrieved by the RCMP, who discovered that boisterous students had made off with it as a prank, intending to wheel it out as the star attraction in a winter carnival parade.

The Mill under the Hill

It may seem odd now, but at one point there was a steam-powered lumber mill just at the shore of the Ottawa River below Parliament Hill. Built sometime in the early 1870s (perhaps even as early as the 1850s), it seems to have quietly vanished by the early 1900s, but has certainly left its traces at water level. Roughly 40 feet wide and 60 feet deep with a smoke-stack that towered about 60 feet high, you can still find traces of the original building, including a subsurface passageway with arches that might have been part of the steam boiler system, and the stone base of the smoke-stack. The site is now used as an ad-hoc camping area complete with broken bottles, a firepit, and the occasional abandoned sleeping bag.

Barrymore’s

Opened in 1914 as a vaudeville venue, the Imperial Theatre lasted for more than four decades as one of Ottawa’s premier movie cinemas, and was even popular enough to be fined $20 for overcrowding in 1938 before it finally closed in 1955.

It spent a number of inauspicious intervening years as a furniture warehouse before being restored and renovated in the late 70s as a five-level restaurant and discotheque known as Barrymore’s Music Hall, named for the famous acting siblings (Lionel, John, and Ethel).

According to Barrymore’s then owner Bob Werba, “In the 1930s and 40s, the Barrymore family was very popular and were regarded as the first family of theatre.” After the disco years, it enjoyed a short stint as a live-music club in the early 80s, even hosting a show by a very young U2 in 1981.

It was reopened with the help of Zaphod Beeblebrox owner Eugene Haslam in 1995 (who left in 1999). Things came full circle one New Year’s Eve when Ottawa’s Tom Green brought his date, Drew Barrymore, to this club named for her family.

323 Bank St., 233-0307

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