Government Conference Centre
Encyclopedia
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 Château Laurier
hotel, completed around the same time.
connected it to Hull
and then onto Lachute, Quebec. It used the existing Prince of Wales Bridge
to cross the Ottawa River
near the site of the present-day O-Train Bayview Station
, west of Parliament Hill
. This rail bridge had been built in 1880 and was transferred to Canadian Pacific Railway
in 1882.
Before the turn of the century, several railway companies had run their rail lines into the city and several had begun to build railway stations. In chronological order:
Broad Street, in the Lebreton Flats
area, was the site of several stations, several of them perishing in fire. Broad Street was the link to the Prince of Wales Bridge
, the link to the rest of Canada. Broad Street no longer exists, as it was part of the National Capital Commission's efforts at improving the capital area.
However, there was no central station until 1895, through efforts of John Rudolphus Booth
. Booth was a Canadian lumber baron known for creating Canada's largest sawmill right in Ottawa, near Chaudière Falls
. His mill's capacity exceeded the distribution infrastructure, and he looked to rail as a solution. (Eighteen years previous, he had established the Canada Atlantic Railway
.) Booth had built a central depot in 1895 just south of Rideau Street, on the east side of the canal and reachable by way of a covered stairway from Sappers Bridge. The station seemed to not be truly serving the needs of the railway companies, since it was built for the interests of the Canada Atlantic Railway.
CPR's Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge built in 1901 became the second railway bridge to cross the Ottawa River between Ottawa and Hull. It led to Booth's central depot. In 1905, Booth sold the Canadian Atlantic Railway to the Grand Trunk line.
In 1910, the Grand Trunk Railway
was apportioned part of the Rideau Canal in order to build a new station and hotel. The hotel would become the famous Chateau Laurier
, and the station would become Ottawa's Union Station.
The building was opened by the Grand Trunk Railway
in 1912 as Ottawa's railway station, and the hotel was built across the street to serve travellers. Previously in Ottawa, each railway company had its own station. The Grand Trunk Railway company decided to allow other Railways to use this station, therefore clarifying and unifying passenger travel in the city.
Interestingly, the opening of the Union Station and the Chateau Laurier was not met with much fanfare when opened in June 1912, since Grand Trunk Railway general manager Charles Hays
perished in the Titanic disaster two months previously.
The Doric Roman Revival multi pillar Union station was originally designed by New York-based architect Bradford Lee Gilbert who was eventually dismissed due to concerns of mismanagement. The Montreal firm of Ross and MacFarlane
took over the project, making many design changes to the station. Ross and MacFarlane also took over the design of the Château Laurier and later built Toronto
's Union Station
.
Both Canadian National Railways and Canadian Pacific Railway
operated regularly scheduled passenger trains through the facility until it ceased operations on July 31, 1966.
(right on its east banks) and led northward into the city. They approached Union Station through several sheds. From the sheds, emerged two tracks (on the east side of the Rideau Canal), and continued along, proceeding under the bridge where Wellington Street
crosses the canal. They then ran immediately adjacent to the west side of Chateau Laurier
, in a structure which was used for a time in a converted form, by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
. The track continued, where there is now a paved road and ran to the Alexandra (Interprovincial) Bridge.
Once in Hull, there was the possibility to continue to other parts of Quebec, or to return to Ottawa by making a turn and returning over the Prince of Wales Bridge. Some of the pathways in present day Gatineau are on locations where rails had once made this possible.
decided to remove the tracks along the east side of the Canal, replacing them with a scenic drive, and a new Ottawa station
was built just south of Ottawa's downtown area. While the NCC had originally planned to tear down the structure, it was spared, becoming the centre of Canada's centenary celebrations in 1967. After sitting empty for many years, it was turned into the Government Conference Centre. A new entrance and canopy at the rear of the building was built to provide greater security for the Commonwealth Prime Minister's meeting held in 1973. The same year, artist Bruce Garner sculpted bronze doors for the new entrance, titled Reflections of Canada.
It has since been home to many gatherings of civil servants and politicians. In 2001, the building hosted the G20
conference, a gathering of 20 finance ministers from around the world.
As well as hosting conferences, the building is also sometimes used as a gallery. A section of the Berlin wall
was on display inside the main entrance from September 27, 1991, until January 29, 2011. Because the location of the display was not widely publicized, it was decided that the segment would be more prominent at its new location in the Canadian War Museum
.
The building is inspired by the Beaux-Arts architectural style. The main departures hall (now the main conference area) is based on the Great Hall of the Roman Baths of Caracalla
at 3/4 scale. It is therefore similar to the now-destroyed departures hall of New York Penn Station.
The cavernous structure has never been well suited to its role as a conference centre. In the mid-1990s a proposal was made to turn it into the new home for the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, but these plans fell through. In his final year in office, Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien
announced that the building would become home to a new museum of Canadian political history, but incoming Prime Minister Paul Martin
cancelled this project, and it has remained a conference centre.
In 2007, the idea of reverting the building back to its original use sprang up as Ottawa considered various proposals for regional commuter rail systems. It is seen as being feasible to do so (although it would require a long tunnel to reconnect to the existing railway tracks) ; however, the Government of Canada's Department of Public Works says the building is not for sale.
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, located at 2 Rideau Street
Rideau Street
Rideau Street is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district...
. It is situated at the intersection of Wellington Street and 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...
, just a short distance from the Parliament buildings
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
and Confederation Square
Confederation Square
Confederation Square is an urban square in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and is considered the second most important ceremonial centre in Canada's capital city, after Parliament Hill...
, and across the street from the Château Laurier
Château Laurier
The Fairmont Château Laurier is a landmark hotel in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario located near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive designed in the Châteauesque style.-History:...
hotel, completed around the same time.
History of Railroads in Ottawa
Ottawa became part the transcontinental rail network on June 28, 1886, when Pacific ExpressPacific Express
Pacific Express Was an airline was formed in 1981 by the management of the commuter airline, West Air headed by Terry Ashton, a former Hughes Airwest executive. Based in Chico CA. The original plan was to begin high frequency, low fare service in the Los Angeles- San Francisco corridor. PSA...
connected it to Hull
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
and then onto Lachute, Quebec. It used the existing Prince of Wales Bridge
Prince of Wales Bridge
The Prince of Wales Bridge is a rail bridge across the Ottawa River joining Ottawa, Ontario to Gatineau, Quebec. It connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway line just west of Lebreton Flats, and crosses the south channel of the river to Lemieux Island; it then continues across the northern...
to cross the Ottawa River
Ottawa River
The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...
near the site of the present-day O-Train Bayview Station
Bayview Station (OC Transpo)
Bayview Station is a transitway and O-Train station in Ottawa, Ontario. The bus stop is at the eastern end of Scott Street when it becomes Wellington Street. The O-Train station, the northern terminus of the current line, is located on a stub-end track branching off from the railway line,...
, west of Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
. This rail bridge had been built in 1880 and was transferred to Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
in 1882.
Before the turn of the century, several railway companies had run their rail lines into the city and several had begun to build railway stations. In chronological order:
- New Edinburgh: Bytown and Prescott RailwayBytown and Prescott RailwayThe Bytown and Prescott Railway, Ottawa's first railway to outside markets, was a railway joining Ottawa, Ontario with Prescott, Ontario on the Saint Lawrence River. The 52 mile railway facilitated shipments of principally lumber via the Saint Lawrence River to markets in the United States and...
- Broad Street
- Elgin StreetElgin StreetElgin Street may refer to:* Elgin Street, Lancashire, a street in Bacup, Lancashire, England* Elgin Street , a street in Ottawa, Canada* Elgin Street, Hong Kong, a street in Central Hong Kong...
: Canada Atlantic RailwayCanada Atlantic RailwayThe Canada Atlantic Railway Company , the creation of lumber baron John Rudolphus Booth, was for a short period an important participant in the development of trans-Canada railway systems at the end of the 19th century...
: early 1880s - Nicholas StreetNicholas StreetNicholas 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...
at Mann Avenue: Ottawa and New York Railway: 1895
Broad Street, in 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...
area, was the site of several stations, several of them perishing in fire. Broad Street was the link to the Prince of Wales Bridge
Prince of Wales Bridge
The Prince of Wales Bridge is a rail bridge across the Ottawa River joining Ottawa, Ontario to Gatineau, Quebec. It connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway line just west of Lebreton Flats, and crosses the south channel of the river to Lemieux Island; it then continues across the northern...
, the link to the rest of Canada. Broad Street no longer exists, as it was part of the National Capital Commission's efforts at improving the capital area.
However, there was no central station until 1895, through efforts of John Rudolphus Booth
John Rudolphus Booth
John Rudolphus Booth was a Canadian lumber and railway baron. He controlled logging rights for large tracts of forest land in central Ontario, and built a railway to extract his logs; and from Ottawa through to Vermont to export lumber and grain to the United States and...
. Booth was a Canadian lumber baron known for creating Canada's largest sawmill right in Ottawa, near Chaudière Falls
Chaudière Falls
The Chaudière Falls are a set of cascades and waterfall in the centre of the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area in Canada where the Ottawa River narrows between a rocky escarpment on both sides of the river. The location is just west of the Chaudière Bridge, northwest of the Canadian War Museum at...
. His mill's capacity exceeded the distribution infrastructure, and he looked to rail as a solution. (Eighteen years previous, he had established the Canada Atlantic Railway
Canada Atlantic Railway
The Canada Atlantic Railway Company , the creation of lumber baron John Rudolphus Booth, was for a short period an important participant in the development of trans-Canada railway systems at the end of the 19th century...
.) Booth had built a central depot in 1895 just south of Rideau Street, on the east side of the canal and reachable by way of a covered stairway from Sappers Bridge. The station seemed to not be truly serving the needs of the railway companies, since it was built for the interests of the Canada Atlantic Railway.
CPR's Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge built in 1901 became the second railway bridge to cross the Ottawa River between Ottawa and Hull. It led to Booth's central depot. In 1905, Booth sold the Canadian Atlantic Railway to the Grand Trunk line.
In 1910, the Grand Trunk Railway
Grand Trunk Railway
The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...
was apportioned part of the Rideau Canal in order to build a new station and hotel. The hotel would become the famous Chateau Laurier
Château Laurier
The Fairmont Château Laurier is a landmark hotel in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario located near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive designed in the Châteauesque style.-History:...
, and the station would become Ottawa's Union Station.
Construction of Union Station
Grand Trunk Railway
The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...
in 1912 as Ottawa's railway station, and the hotel was built across the street to serve travellers. Previously in Ottawa, each railway company had its own station. The Grand Trunk Railway company decided to allow other Railways to use this station, therefore clarifying and unifying passenger travel in the city.
Interestingly, the opening of the Union Station and the Chateau Laurier was not met with much fanfare when opened in June 1912, since Grand Trunk Railway general manager Charles Hays
Charles Melville Hays
Charles Melville Hays was an American railway executive of the Grand Trunk Railway. He died at sea on the RMS Titanic.-Early years:...
perished in the Titanic disaster two months previously.
The Doric Roman Revival multi pillar Union station was originally designed by New York-based architect Bradford Lee Gilbert who was eventually dismissed due to concerns of mismanagement. The Montreal firm of Ross and MacFarlane
Ross and Macdonald
Ross and Macdonald was one of Canada's most notable architecture firms in the early 20th century. Based in Montreal, Quebec, the firm originally operated as a partnership between George Allen Ross and David MacFarlane from 1907 to 1912. MacFarlane retired in 1913, and Robert Henry Macdonald...
took over the project, making many design changes to the station. Ross and MacFarlane also took over the design of the Château Laurier and later built Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's Union Station
Union Station (Toronto)
Union Station is the major inter-city rail station and a major commuter rail hub in Toronto, located on Front Street West and occupying the south side of the block bounded by Bay Street and York Street in the central business district. The station building is owned by the City of Toronto, while the...
.
Both Canadian National Railways and Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
operated regularly scheduled passenger trains through the facility until it ceased operations on July 31, 1966.
Connection to Railways
Several tracks which originated from the main railway infrastructure in Ottawa ran immediately adjacent to the Rideau CanalRideau 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...
(right on its east banks) and led northward into the city. They approached Union Station through several sheds. From the sheds, emerged two tracks (on the east side of the Rideau Canal), and continued along, proceeding under the bridge where Wellington Street
Wellington Street
Wellington Street is a name of a street in:*Wellington Street , Ontario, Canada*Wellington Street, Hong Kong*Wellington Street, London, England*Wellington Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada*Wellington Street, Perth, Australia...
crosses the canal. They then ran immediately adjacent to the west side of Chateau Laurier
Château Laurier
The Fairmont Château Laurier is a landmark hotel in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario located near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive designed in the Châteauesque style.-History:...
, in a structure which was used for a time in a converted form, by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
The Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography is an gallery of Canada's best art and documentary photography. Founded in 1985 and affiliated to the National Gallery of Canada, it is housed at the National Gallery of Canada, located at 380 Sussex Drive, Ottawa.The roots of the collection reach...
. The track continued, where there is now a paved road and ran to the Alexandra (Interprovincial) Bridge.
Once in Hull, there was the possibility to continue to other parts of Quebec, or to return to Ottawa by making a turn and returning over the Prince of Wales Bridge. Some of the pathways in present day Gatineau are on locations where rails had once made this possible.
Post 1966
In 1966, the National Capital CommissionNational Capital Commission
The National Capital Commission , is a Canadian Crown corporation that administers the federally owned lands and buildings in Canada's National Capital Region, including Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec.The NCC was created in 1959, replacing the Federal District Commission , which had been...
decided to remove the tracks along the east side of the Canal, replacing them with a scenic drive, and a new Ottawa station
Ottawa Train Station
Ottawa Station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located at 200 Tremblay Road, is served by Via Rail inter-city trains connecting it to Toronto and Montreal. OC Transpo’s Train rapid transit station carries railway passengers into the city centre or into the eastern suburbs.The station was designed by...
was built just south of Ottawa's downtown area. While the NCC had originally planned to tear down the structure, it was spared, becoming the centre of Canada's centenary celebrations in 1967. After sitting empty for many years, it was turned into the Government Conference Centre. A new entrance and canopy at the rear of the building was built to provide greater security for the Commonwealth Prime Minister's meeting held in 1973. The same year, artist Bruce Garner sculpted bronze doors for the new entrance, titled Reflections of Canada.
Current usage and architecture
G20 industrial nations
The Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies: 19 countries plus the European Union, which is represented by the President of the European Council and by the European Central Bank...
conference, a gathering of 20 finance ministers from around the world.
As well as hosting conferences, the building is also sometimes used as a gallery. A section of the Berlin wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
was on display inside the main entrance from September 27, 1991, until January 29, 2011. Because the location of the display was not widely publicized, it was decided that the segment would be more prominent at its new location in the Canadian War Museum
Canadian War Museum
The Canadian War Museum is Canada’s national museum of military history. Located in Ottawa, Ontario, the museum covers all facets of Canada’s military past, from the first recorded instances of death by armed violence in Canadian history several thousand years ago to the country’s most recent...
.
The building is inspired by the Beaux-Arts architectural style. The main departures hall (now the main conference area) is based on the Great Hall of the Roman Baths of Caracalla
Baths of Caracalla
The Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy were Roman public baths, or thermae, built in Rome between AD 212 and 216, during the reign of the Emperor Caracalla.- History :...
at 3/4 scale. It is therefore similar to the now-destroyed departures hall of New York Penn Station.
The cavernous structure has never been well suited to its role as a conference centre. In the mid-1990s a proposal was made to turn it into the new home for the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, but these plans fell through. In his final year in office, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
announced that the building would become home to a new museum of Canadian political history, but incoming Prime Minister Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
cancelled this project, and it has remained a conference centre.
In 2007, the idea of reverting the building back to its original use sprang up as Ottawa considered various proposals for regional commuter rail systems. It is seen as being feasible to do so (although it would require a long tunnel to reconnect to the existing railway tracks) ; however, the Government of Canada's Department of Public Works says the building is not for sale.