Wellington Street Part 3: Wellington and Rideau's on again, off again, connection (1820s-1913)

   [Show/Hide Contents]

• The Fortress at Barrack Hill
• Wagon Trail to Sappers' Bridge
• Sparks Street Extension to the Canal
• Wellington Street extension to the Canal
• Dufferin Bridge restores Wellington-Rideau connection
• Postscript: Confusion Square
• References

In this blog series about 200 years of physical and nominal changes to Wellington Street, most of the action is West of Bank Street, particularly in LeBreton Flats. The previous post showed the earliest of these changes. Today we will examine the changes to the east end of Wellington Street in the 1800s, as it dabbled with connections to Rideau.

The stones don't fall far from the Hill

The Confederation building (1927) and Justice building (1935) on Wellington Street just west of Parliament Hill nicely frame the original Bank of Canada building (1937) on the south side of the street when you look south from Vittoria Street.

In this space used to be a number of stone carvings from the parliament buildings, including these two top-pieces from the stonework along Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill. The photo above and the two below were taken on Victoria Day, 2009:

Bad sectors in Centretown

Back in July, my hard disk drive crashed, losing two months' worth of photos (about 1600). At the end of October I got a surprise call from the guy I'd brought it to, who said he was able to recover over 90% of the data. I was able to push this to about 97% of the photos that I had taken since my previous backup.

Some of them, however, were damaged. The hard drive had bad sectors and in the recovery many of the photos were damaged (only a very small number were completely unreadable). The damage inflicted on them actually has a bit of an artistic tone to them. Here's a photo of 222 Queen Street (which is where the RMOC headquarters were before it moved to the building that's now City Hall):

I discovered that I actually had a more recent backup on an external drive, up to mid-June. From this, I was able to push the recovery rate to about 99% of my photos, since many of the damaged photos were taken before then. Here's the original of the photo above:

Take a Peak at the Post Office

I had occasion somewhat recently to visit the top floor of the Central Chambers building, the offices of Shaw Communications. The view from there is quite impressive.

The biggest surprise from this vantage point was the tower on top of the Central Post Office building:

Even though the elevator penthouse is mentioned in this Urbsite post, it always blended into the background for me.

Also visible are two towers on top of the Langevin Block, the uppermost corner of Confederation Square, the Sakahan tarp over the National Gallery, and Gatineau. And, of course, Parliament Hill, both the Centre Block (plus Peace Tower) and East Block.

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Jane's Walks this weekend!

In case you haven't heard, Jane's Walk Ottawa happens this weekend. I haven't given any since the Rescue Bronson Jane's Walk I gave two years ago. It was fun, but a lot of work. So instead I'll try to go out on a couple of other people's walks. Here are some I'm looking at that are within Somerset Ward, with the description on the Jane's Walk Ottawa website linked to the headings:

Apt613 Blog Walk of Somerset
Saturday, May 4, 2013, 2pm-3:30pm
Meet at Dundonald Park, Somerset and Bay

Staying on the Bronson theme of my 2011 walk, Apartment 613 is holding a walk in Chinatown, whose businesses are suffering from the closure of the Bronson/Somerset intersection. This one has a neat format, where they'll interview some of the business owners in the same way they do interviews for their blog entries, only it'll be live and you'll be there!

Local Confectionaries
Saturday, May 4, 2013, 4pm-5pm
Meet at Somerset and Preston

A great segue from the Apt613 walk, local cartoonist/illustrator Colin White is giving a tour of the corner stores which feature often in his drawings. I don't think I've met him in person, but I like his depictions of familiar hyperlocal landmarks.

Painting on the Mackenzie-King Bridge

You might have heard earlier this month about Patrick Mills painting every day in March on the Mackenzie-King Bridge. I made a point of going to visit him shortly after that story broke, chatted with him a bit, and of course took a photo:

He has a blog where he keeps track of his regular progress.

A couple days after reading about his work, I recognized one of them staring me in the face as I walked out of the office on the second floor of City Hall (between the elevator bank near the Laurier entrance and the rotunda):

This had just recently been installed, as part of the recent trend to spill out the City's art collection on the otherwise unused wall space.

Patrick is painting every day in March, of which there aren't too many left. So if you want to check him out in person, don't wait too long!

One last (hopefully) blast of winter

The weather forecast suggests that we'll be getting another 20-centimetre blast of snow in the next couple of days. This might be my last chance this year to get some of my winter-related photos out before trying to forget that season and focus on spring and summer. So here goes.

Here's an inuksuk I built outside Bridgehead on Elgin after a snowstorm in December. It was one of those ones with really sticky snow. A couple of days after falling, that sticky snow had hardened into snow you could cut chunks from.

That was actually from the storm pictured below on Gladstone, where the snow 'flakes' were the size of frosted mini wheats. I hope this week's storm doesn't bring us this heavy stuff:

3D Thursday: Victoria Island #idlenomore

The Idle No More movement has been embodied by Chief Theresa Spence's hunger strike.

I took some 3D photos of the island back in October, including this one with the Peace Tower in the background.

Source photos for the 3D images:
Left, Right

Spence is Chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation. She's been hunger striking since December 10 to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General David Johnston. So far, she's still striking. There is plenty of mainstream and alternative media coverage for the latest updates, as well as, of course, the #idlenomore Twitter hashtag.

[Tune in on Thursdays at noon for a new 3D image. View the 3D label for other posts with 3D images]

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Crescent Moonset

As I was heading to meet friends for dinner in Somerset Village, a giant red crescent moon made itself apparent right in my path. I diligently got my tripod out and took photos from the middle of the street.

As I was fiddling with the camera settings, a party of twelve came out of Mama Theresa's and watched me while they tried to figure out what I was doing. When I returned to the sidewalk and saw they were still watching me as I put away my tripod, I pointed to the end of the street and said "look, the moon!"

One ventured hesitantly into the street, saw it, and was soon followed by the rest of the group to admire the spectacle. After a minute or two, they figured it was time they got out of the road. There's a certain bemusing thrill to stand in the middle of the street to admire a sight, especially when traffic is so sparse.

Generally the moon illusion is associated with a full moon, but clarly it works just as well with a crescent moon.

Back in May, I tweeted a similar photo of the moon over the Plaza Bridge by the NAC, Parliament Hill, Rideau Canal, and former Union Station. That was a cropped version of this one, which is a stunning and classic Ottawa nighttime shot even without the moon:

Respecting veterans, heritage, and current office needs

Not too many years ago, the East Veterans Memorial Building at Wellington and Lyon (built 1949-1956) was renovated, and received some upgrades. However, I only recently noticed that these renovations included a modern office extension of the building on the top floors. On the ground, you can only see the new upper floors from the west side of the Lyon Street sidewalk, all you see from Sparks Street is the original building:

An excellent demonstration that you don't need to stick a 20-storey tower on top of a heritage building to modernize it!

There is a report on the seismic rehabilitation (PDF - Google html preview here)

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Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day, everyone! Don't forget to check out the fireworks; there are plenty of great places to see them from.

One year I was in front of the Confederation building on Canada Day during the fireworks. (It wasn't a great place to see the fireworks from).

I'll be off working at CfSC's Bike Park during the upcoming Bluesfest, which will take up all of my time for the next two weeks or so. So apologies in advance if my blogging falls behind.

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Courting behind the court

The Supreme Court of Canada is a spectacular building, with its iconic façade reproduced in photographs, paintings, and even LEGO.

But have you ever been behind it?

The Court sits on a castle-like stone wall that extends behind the building, out to the top of the cliff over the Ottawa River.

Rather than keeping visitors out, the area behind the courthouse is a spot where tourists can come to get a great vantage point of the Ottawa River, Gatineau, and the Parliament Buildings.

The semicircular wall surrounding this outcrop carries graffiti of visitors from years past. As in the castles of Europe, some of these etchings have become more bold with time. The most popular are couples' names, often circled with a heart. Here we see "Ken & Casey '74" and "Claudie G. Ginis, Greece Aug 27 '72". The capstones of the wall are covered with these names, with the highest concentration closest to the river.

Looking down from this wall, to the west, there is a secluded little park along the edge of the cliff.

This is accessed by a set of stairs across the driveway from the rear of the building. Continuing in the castle theme, the curving walls stone walls are built with narrow window openings to protect from intrusion. However, behind these walls is the Court's underground parking garage—a reminder that this building was built in the age of the automobile.

The view from this place is stunning. In the Winter, you can see the nighttime lights of Gatineau reflected in the ice sheet that covers the Ottawa River.

The Gatineau Tissue Mill, owned by Kruger products, is one of the last remaining facilities of this area, where a vast forest products industry used to extend across the Chaudiere and Victoria islands and through Lebreton Flats. According to an info sheet on the company's website, this plant produces some familiar paper products you see on supermarket shelves: Scotties®, White Swan® facial tissues, White Swan® Napkins and Cashmere® and White Swan® bathroom tissues.

Peds on Weds: Steps in a pond

While looking for a vantage point recently to check out the work on the Portage/Wellington intersection roadwork (they're adding crosswalks), I stumbled upon this pond in the Garden of the Provinces and Territories, a park nestled between Lebreton Flats, the Parliamentary Precinct, Centretown, Dalhousie, and Cathdral Hill. The park has won a few awards, though I've never seen it with many visitors.

What struck me about this pond (I assume it's a pond in the summertime) is the little steps on the left. Presumably, this is a little walkway across the pond.

I had seen a similar formation in a park last summer when traveling in Ankara, Turkey. It pushed the concept further: it was a path that actually led someplace, and if you for whatever reason had to go around, it was a significant trip. Being built on a moutain/valley, Ankara has many steps and isn't very accessible to begin with (though they are making progress). But accessibility wasn't in my mind at the point so much as the thought that you'd never see such a thing in Ottawa, right? (click to enlarge)

Well, evidently you can. And while it doesn't quite pull off the look of the Myst computer games (despite being devoid of other people), it does look nice and has weathered well. I look forward to seeing it in the summer when the water is turned on!

For this week's Peds on Weds content, check out How Walkable is Ottawa? on Apt613, which has many links to pedestrian-related news and resources. Also make sure to check out JanesWalkOttawa.ca for a Jane's Walk this weekend near you.

Uppertown Winter Walk

On the same day I took photos of the Temporary Building, I took a lot of other photos, despite the frigid cold freezing my batteries. For all the talk of snow clearing on Laurier, this path (for pedestrians) between the Supreme Court and Library and Archives Canada was a lot clearer than many other sidewalks.

The Temporary building (a.k.a. the Justice Annex) is in the background on the left, with its white wooden siding removed.

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Imminently, Temporary to be "formerly" permanently

I figured a tongue-twister would be a good follow-up to the previous post on the subject of an eye-twister. The demolition order was issued last week, and work has begun with removal of the trim and siding.

Incidentally, this street is called "Vittoria", a name that long predates the current federal buildings surrounding it.

Links to more details on this building are in the post from last month, Temporary Eyetwister.

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Temporary eyetwister

The last temporary building, a.k.a the "Justice Annex", is slated for imminent demolition. The federal office building, built during World War II to house federal workers, was last occupied in 1998--the same year it received federal heritage designation.

These are its side doors. I have other photos of this building, some of which were used by URBSite in its posts about the building and about the temporary buildings more generally.

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), the agency responsible for maintaining federal buildings, has decided that it is too expensive to repair this building, and instead will demolish it. This reminds me of some quips made earlier this year that it would be cheaper to demolish and replace 24 Sussex Drive than the estimates to repair it (thankfully, I no longer find any such references).

The CCCA has written to Public Works and MP Paul Dewar to oppose the demolition of this building, as has Heritage Ottawa in a letter supporting the CCCA's position. This is the last of the wartime buildings, and its loss will remove a reminder of the enormous effort that went into fighting the war--even on the home front by the civil servants who worked in these buildings. It is inevitable that veterans will eventually die, but buildings can be repaired and maintained. It is quite a disappointment that we will lose this heritage.

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Downstairs coupling

Seen back in April, under the Plaza Bridge, on the stairs connecting the canal level by the Union Station to the upper level by Major's Hill Park.

The channel running down the middle of the stairs is to make it easier for people to walk their bikes up and down stairs. Being in the middle of the stairs allows you to choose to push your bike from the right or left, acccording to your preference.

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Colonel By Day in Ottawa

Here's a photo from April of the Rideau Canal locks at the Ottawa River. In the background are the Bytown Museum (housed in the oldest building in Ottawa), the Canadian Museum of Civilization behind it on the other side of the river, and the Alexandra Bridge connecting Ottawa and Gatineau. Walking across the uppermost lock is a wedding party.

You can celebrate too today: in Ottawa, the first Monday in August is Colonel By Day. There are events going on at the Bytown Museum, and at Confederation Park. It's named for Coloney John By, who was the engineer in charge of the construction of the canal in the 1820s-1830s. Bytown, later renamed Ottawa, was named after him.

Not visible in this photo, but at the bottom of the locks, is a stone Celtic Cross monument honouring the (mostly Irish) workers and their families (as many as a thousand) who died in the construction of the Rideau Canal.

The Corktown Footbridge is also named to honour the many Irish immigrants who built the bridge. They lived in an encampment along the canal which they called "Corktown," named for County Cork in Ireland, where many of them were from. I was on the naming committee for the bridge, and one of the striking aspects of the name is that it isn't named for a single powerful individual, but the everyday people who were just as instrumental for the accomplishment of great projects (it also balances the nationalities of the Laurier and Mackenzie-King bridges crossing the canal in downtown Ottawa). The Corktown Bridge restored some of this balance that was lost when the Sappers and Miners Bridges were merged and renamed the Plaza Bridge.

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Bixiiiii

This photo is from back in April, on the bidirectional pathway along Mackenzie Avenue toward the Alexandra Bridge. I took it on my foray up to Nepean Point. This was very shortly after the launch of the Capital Bixi program: I saw five people on Bixis coming along, and managed to catch them all in the same shot on my first (and only) try:

Parliament Hill is in the background, but I had neglected to consider its appearance in the photo.

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Langevin Block at night

I really like the Langevin block--the building at the corner of Elgin and Wellington. It seems I've only posted one photo of it before, though I feel like I have so many photos of it. It's a nice counterpoint to Parliament Hill, and provides a strong anchor to the parliamentary precinct.

I took this photo last night as an STO bus drove past. In retrospect, I should have tilted the camera up a bit.

Expect to see a few more photos in the coming days/weeks from last night's photo expedition to Elgin/Wellington, as the busy winter season pushes my blogging time to the wayside and I resort to easy fodder. I'll probably also revert to Monday/Friday noon updates.

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