Editor's note: This article is cross-posted from Spacing Ottawa contributor Chris Warden's new website dedicated to modernist architecture in Ottawa. As Chris explains, Capital Modern's inspiration is "a concern with the lack of value that is typically attributed to buildings and sites from this period in Ottawa’s growth as a city...[the] site is meant to fit into the growing attention this period is receiving and to provide a wide audience with the opportunity to consider and/or reconsider works from this period."

One of the key legacies of the Centennial celebrations in Ottawa was the construction of numerous public institutions aimed at promoting and protecting the collective memory and identity of Canada and its peoples. Perched at the western edge of the Parliamentary Precinct, the Library and Archives Canada building is a modernist landmark serving the role of providing storage for important documentation, providing access to this documentation and being a site for public use.  In fact public use of the building is identified in the building's Heritage Character Statement:  "as an important public venue in Ottawa".  A heritage character statement, prepared by FHBRO (Federal Heritage Building Review Office) is a summary document that outlines key architectural, associative and …

With last week's post on the old Ottawa streetcar system fresh in out minds, this edition of Where In Ottawa tests your knowledge of Ottawa transit history:

Can you solve this week's streetcar puzzler on your own, or will you rely on the kindness of strangers?

I am looking at the area that once contained one of the trickiest one-two combinations in the city's streetcar network. You had to run the gauntlet and avoid becoming a deadman. Where am I?

As well as sending us your guess, you can also email us to submit your own clues for upcoming editions of Where in Ottawa.

image capture by Richard Summers…

Popcorn and a Prime Minister: the old home of Place de Ville cinema

The answer to last week's quiz is the Podium Building at Place de Ville. It seems it was a tough one; we had no right answers.

Place de Ville was once home to the Place de Ville Cinemas operated by Famous Players. The theatre opened in 1971 and closed in 1996. It opened as one of the replacements for the Capitol Theatre, which once graced the corner of Bank and Queen, a short distance away.

The old cinemas are  hidden behind office space which now encircles them. This allows the offices access to the natural light provided by the windows, while the cinemas are encased, an arrangement which reduces their perceived bulk.  The Place de Ville Cinema is unique in the city as the cinemas are piggy-backed. Cinema II accessed from the ground floor had 437 seats and Cinema I had 751 seats. The primary feature of the multi-story foyer was a mural of images of the old Capitol Theatre which rose up next to the multi-level escalator.

While it is fun to reminisce about theatres of past eras, this multiplex is a special one; even Pierre …

The Rideau river near the Herzberg Building, Carleton University

Every five years or so, Carleton University revisits its master plan. The most recent draft edition was released in September 2009. Though the campus has long failed to take advantage of its spectacular setting, its administrators have always understood the power of the site, as most brochure shots of the institution are traditionally taken from the air. From this perspective you get a sense of the way Carleton relates to both the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal. On the ground the visual effect is much different. The site is  heavily insulated with ring roads and parkways which separate the campus from its natural setting. There have been sporadic attempts to connect portions of the campus to the surrounding waterways, but in the end, the powers-that-be have always judged that the ring road was of more importance than, for example, allowing the Loeb Building to reach out to the banks of the Rideau River.

Back when Carleton moved to its present campus, the main quad served as the heart of the campus, with three buildings providing its edges. They were the MacOdrum Library, the Tory Building, and Paterson Hall. On the …

Canadian Museum of Nature: Victorian, haunted, under renovation, and *not* the answer

No one has correctly guessed the correct answer to last week's puzzler. To refresh memories, here it is again:

While I currently sit unassumingly at the base of the city, stripped down, but encased, I once played host to spectacles and even the Prime Minister. What structure am I?

So it's time to break out the cheat-sheet and make with the extra hints:

1. I am not the Musuem of Nature (Victoria Memorial Building)
2. I am located in the northern portion of downtown.
3. I have a very large mechanical unit on my rooftop, and it is very apparent.
4. There is little visible evidence of my previous use left showing on my exterior, but the bones remain.

As well as sending us your guess, you can also email us to submit your own clues for upcoming editions of Where in Ottawa.

photo by Colin Henein…

First of all congratulations to Charles A-M aka Centretretowner for correctly identifying the former bank’s likeness in the central carved panel above the Wellington Street entrance. As you'll recall our first round was a two-part question:

I am a building, and I just may be the only one in the downtown core to include a depiction of myself on my exterior. Who am I, and where on me do I feature this image of me?

The first part of the question drew a blank from everyone, but once we named the building as a further clue, Charles found the depiction, located under the rays of “Thrift” up on the edge of a bluff ( see image below). It is a rather heroic likeness, but there is nothing wrong with a little artistic license now and then.

photo by Charles A-M

Just for a bit of additional information, the likeness of the Montreal head office is featured prominently on the carved panel above the bank's Sparks Street entrance, being cradled. It creates a nice bit of symmetry to have those two buildings featured above the two entrances. I have read that some identify the Ottawa head office as the most …

We've had no correct answers to our first Where in Ottawa contest. even after two times of asking, so it's time to move on!

The building in question is the Former Bank of Montreal Building at the corner of O’Connor and Wellington (through to Sparks Street). This 1932 RAIC Gold Medal winning building was designed by Ernest Barott of Barott and Blackader out of Montreal in 1929. Barott is also known for designing the Aldred Building in Montreal on Place D’Armes which was designed during the same time as the Former Bank of Montreal.

While the building clearly shows influences of a variety of styles, the best characterization of the building is Modern Classicism, which is a strain of Art Deco. The exterior of the building is directly related to the interior of the building reading like a temple with the primary volume of the building, the Main Hall reading clearly on the exterior of the building; the two flanking, shorter sections serve as support spaces to the Main Hall. On the exterior of the building the base of the building is clad in Stanstead Granite, from Quebec and Queenston Limestone, from Ontario. These materials are important to the history …

Spacing's motto is "understanding the urban landscape". Buildings and streets are major components of that landscape; they are the big picture. Within their frame, often specific elements will come to the fore and become the common image associated with a structure or specific location; the Peace Tower standing for all of Parliament Hill, or the frozen canal under the arch of the Laurier Avenue bridge becoming the default image for the 200 kilometer length of the Rideau Waterway. But this process of forming a collective mental picture often crowds out other important details to the margins, or blurs them out altogether. Yet it's these small details that so often give pleasure; they provide the thrill of discovery that makes us want to share our own version of the city with others.

So we thought it would be interesting to find a way for people to share their discoveries with their fellow Spacing readers. To make it fun, we're starting a contest we call “Where in Ottawa?”. To get things started, we'll supply the wording this week, but in future installments we'd love to run your clue.

The first installment features a structure, and the clue is as follows:

"I am …

Getting off the bus on Rideau Street located in front of the Rideau Centre you are confronted with the former Ogilvy's department store. The five story buff brick building sits as it has been for the past 17 years, empty, deteriorating, while still distinctly marking the corner at Rideau and Nicholas. How did it reach this point, and what is possible in the future?

Ogilvy’s is important both from a historic perspective and an urbanistic perspective. The building in its current incarnation started life in 1907 when Charles Ogilvy constructed a modest three story story structure on the site extending halfway through the block with architect W.E. Noffke. As business improved the building more than doubled in size filling out the remainder of the block now occupying the site from Rideau to Besserer; again designed by Noffke in 1917. The building was further expanded, receiving the fourth story in 1931 and the fifth and final story in 1934. With the fifth story it became one of Ottawa’s largest department stores; the square footage was a clear indication of the success that Ogilvy's enjoyed during the first half of the twentieth century.

Architecturally, the building is well suited to adapt to …