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Department of National Defence Headquarters (Canada)
Encyclopedia
NDHQ actually comprises a collection of offices spread across the National Capital Region, however it is most commonly identified with the Major-General George R. Pearkes Building at 101 Colonel By Drive
Colonel By Drive
Colonel By Drive is an long scenic parkway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs along the Rideau Canal from the end of Sussex Drive at Rideau Street. It then continues south and west to Hog's Back Road, winding through several residential areas and going past Dow's Lake and Carleton University...
in Ottawa.
The building and the adjacent Rideau Centre
Rideau Centre
Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....
are both served by OC Transpo
OC Transpo
OC Transpo is the urban transit service of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. An integrated hub-and-spoke system of services is available consisting of: regular buses travelling on fixed routes in mixed traffic, typical of most urban transit systems; a bus rapid transit system — a high...
's Mackenzie King Transitway station
Mackenzie King Station (OC Transpo)
Mackenzie King Station is a major station on the OC Transpo transitway. It is served by all three of OC Transpo's principal routes along with all express routes and several crosstown routes...
.
Design controversy
The building, named after Major-General G.R. Pearkes
George Pearkes
Major General George Randolph Pearkes, VC, PC, CC, CB, DSO, MC, CD was a Canadian politician; soldier; recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Imperial forces; and the 20th Lieutenant Governor of British...
, was constructed between 1969 and 1974, and was originally intended for use by the Department of Transport. When a planned National Defence Headquarters complex on the LeBreton Flats
Lebreton Flats
LeBreton Flats is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. It lies to the west of Centretown neighbourhood, and to the north of Centretown West with "Nanny Goat Hill" as the dividing line...
was not built, however, DND acquired the Colonel By Drive structure.
The concept for the building (actually a group of buildings) was developed by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
town planner Jacques Gréber
Jacques Gréber
Jacques-Henri-Auguste Gréber was a French architect specializing in landscape architecture and urban design. He was a strong proponent of the Beaux-Arts style and a contributor to the City Beautiful movement, particularly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Ottawa, Ontario.-Early life and...
immediately after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
at the invitation of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
. Gréber, a proponent of boulevards and highways as opposed to rail corridors, advised that the city redevelop the east bank of the Rideau Canal
Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...
which was, at that time, covered with railway tracks leading to Ottawa Union Station.
This was accomplished and with the removal of the station tracks and relocation of passenger rail service to a new suburban station; the Ottawa Union Station building has since become the Government Conference Centre
Government Conference Centre
The Government Conference Centre is a government building in downtown Ottawa, Canada, located at 2 Rideau Street. It is situated at the intersection of Wellington Street and the Rideau Canal, just a short distance from the Parliament buildings and Confederation Square, and across the street from...
. The remaining land that contained the coach yard for Ottawa Union Station was vacant and ready for developments that would contain the Pearkes Building and the Rideau Centre.
Architects John C. Parkin, Searle, Wilby, and Rowland designed the buildings in the then-popular Brutalist style
Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...
. They were conceived as the first phase of the planned redevelopment, the Rideau Centre
Rideau Centre
Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....
, which opened in 1983, being the second phase.
Attack vulnerability
During the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the threat of nuclear attack on the National Capital Region saw a Central Emergency Government Headquarters
Diefenbunker
Emergency Government Headquarters are nuclear fallout bunkers built by the Government of Canada at the height of the Cold War during the infancy of the ICBM threat...
constructed 30 km west of Ottawa at CFS Carp
CFS Carp
Canadian Forces Station Carp is a former Canadian military facility located in the rural farming community of Carp, Ontario, approximately 30 km west of Ottawa....
; this facility was to house a scaled-down NDHQ, along with the federal cabinet and other political, military and government leaders.
The threat of terrorist attacks in recent decades, particularly following the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, led to the permanent closure of an access road that runs beneath the connecting section of the two structures comprising the MGen George R. Pearkes Building. The interior mezzanine corridor connecting the north and south towers had been closed to all but pass holders in the 1990s.
A dramatic architectural feature (and potential vulnerability), it was initially cordoned off using temporary concrete barriers. Work has now been completed permanently closing off the thoroughfare that formerly linked Nicholas Street
Nicholas Street
Nicholas Street is an arterial road in the central area of Ottawa, Ontario which connects Highway 417 with the downtown core.The southern section of the road is a freeway between the Queensway interchange and Laurier Avenue intersection...
to Colonel By Drive
Colonel By Drive
Colonel By Drive is an long scenic parkway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs along the Rideau Canal from the end of Sussex Drive at Rideau Street. It then continues south and west to Hog's Back Road, winding through several residential areas and going past Dow's Lake and Carleton University...
and the adjacent Rideau Canal
Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...
by building permanent concrete barriers, metal fencing, and a gatehouse equipped with the capability to stop unauthorised vehicles from entering.
Possible relocation
The MGen George R. Pearkes Building underwent extensive renovations during the mid-1990s as each floor was gutted to replace the hodge podge of outdated offices and furnishings dating to the building's opening in 1974. Modular office furnishings produced by CORCAN (constructed in Canadian prisons) were installed.By the mid-2000s it became apparent that the NDHQ complex at the MGen George R. Pearkes Building was overcrowded, forcing DND to spread headquarters staff out across the National Capital Region. Sizeable NDHQ offices have been established in the past, or are still currently located in, Place Export Canada, the Constitution Building
Constitution Building
The Constitution Building is an 11 story Canadian office building in Ottawa, Ontario.Located at 305 Rideau Street at the corner of King Edward, the building is used by the Department of National Defence....
, l'Esplanade Laurier
Esplanade Laurier
L'Esplanade Laurier is an office complex in downtown Ottawa, Canada. It consists of two 23-story towers, a three story underground parking garage and a podium containing a two-story shopping mall. The entire structure is clad in white carrara marble, making it clearly stand out of from the other...
, Louis St Laurent Building (Gatineau, QC) and the Berger Building among others.
Recent cutbacks among high-technology companies in the Ottawa region led DND to consider buying a surplus JDS Uniphase
JDS Uniphase
JDS Uniphase is a company that designs and manufactures products for optical communications networks, communications test and measurement equipment, lasers, optical solutions for authentication and decorative applications, and other custom optics. It is headquartered in Milpitas, California in the...
campus in suburban Barrhaven
Barrhaven, Ontario
Barrhaven is a rapidly growing suburban neighbourhood in the southwest of the urban area of the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, about southwest of downtown Ottawa. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Its population as of the Canada 2006 Census was...
at the intersection of Merivale Road and Prince of Wales Drive, west of the Ottawa International Airport
Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport
Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International Airport or Macdonald-Cartier International Airport , in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is named after Sirs John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier...
. JDS's former Barrhaven campus comprises two large buildings with extensive computer networking capacity, and is currently selling for a fraction of what it cost to construct. The location was perceived to be far more secure, in being set back from public roads, and has ample parking and transit connections for the several thousand employees it was designed to support. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police now occupy this property.