Ontario - Ottawa - Misc. Buildings

Ottawa - Miscellaneous Buildings



First Baptist Church, Elgin Ave. at Laurier Ave.


Various views of the Cartier Square Drill Hall, still an active military installation, on the south side of Laurier Ave. near Queen Elizabeth Drive. Notice the maple leaf post cap.


Continuing north on Elgin Ave. to the Central Chambers National Historic Site, former Canadian Atlantic Railway office and now government building.


Facing south along Elgin Ave. at the even older (1883) Scottish Ontario Chambers, just north of the Central Chambers on the corner of Sparks St. and a former Canadian Pacific Railway office. I sense some competition.


On the northwest corner of that intersection, quite a bit newer yet still historic, is the 1939 Central Post Office, replacing one that was in the middle of what's now Confederation Square across the street.


Walking down Sparks St. at night for a taste of the historic architecture you'll miss if you just drive through Ottawa, since this street is too narrow for cars.


Crossing Wellington St., you will have an easier time going underneath and following the Rideau Canal. It heads down (from the Rideau River) toward its outflow to the Ottawa River through a series of locks. The Commissariat Building, now a museum, is on the left when you're almost to the water, dating to the construction of the canal in the 1820s and the oldest stone building left in Ottawa. It's called Bytown Museum because Ottawa was founded here by Colonel By and at first so named. Château Laurier rises to the left when you look back upstream.


Downtown Hull, QC as seen from the canal at sunset.


At least when I went in August 2012, the stairs back up from the canal to the north side of Wellington St. were muralized with unmistakable symbols of Canada - a wolf, and a man with a maple leaf for a face. Son of Maple? Maple of Man?


Parliament Hill is ideally located for sightseeing Ottawa's important landmarks. Here we have the One Hundred Foot Line sculpture (far left, looking like a leafless birch trunk), National Gallery of Canada, and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica. Since the Basilica is really shiny, I get closer and closer to it, unable to turn away from its vibrancy.


Driving by the Connaught Building on Mackenzie Ave. It was built in 1915 to house additional government functions and still does so 100 years later.


The Connaught Building just makes it clear of the adjacent Château Laurier when seen from the back of Parliament.

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