BEFORE AND AFTER FREDERICK TODD

The park at the centre of Macdonald Gardens commemorates the graveyards of four congregations from 1845 to 1873.

This lecture will reveal how landscape architect Frederick Todd designed the park as part of capital landscape planning in 1912, while 1970s urban renewal reshaped the larger community. Today this evolving neighbourhood in Lowertown East remains a uniquely diverse illustration of the city’s landscape, housing and…

This well illustrated talk explores the outstanding work carried out in the creation of Canada's public open spaces and institutions from about 1870-1920, when the vast majority of our key institutions (primarily governmental / educational / institutional) were established in a new nation. These special public places and institutions were designed by professionals, often landscape architects, and both buildings and landscapes were of…

Digital technologies play an increasingly significant role in large, complex heritage documentation projects such as the one under way for the Parliament Buildings National Historic Site of Canada. Research at the Carleton Immersive Media Studio is investigating how the data created by these technologies can play a direct role in restoration work.

This lecture will examine a series of projects where digital technologies augmented traditional craft in the repair of stone carvings on…

The masterful re-purposing of Building 94, a "Recognized" Federal Heritage Building on the Central Experimental Farm National Historic Site, was carried out under the direction of John Neuert of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects and John Cook of GRC Architects in joint venture with BSN Architects.

This project involved the rehabilitation of the former Machine Building into one of the newest and most imaginative museums in the National…

For over a century, the intimidating architecture of Canadian prisons inspired sentences to be carried out in solitude and silence.

Set within Ottawa's own historic jail, this lecture will focus on the 19th and early 20th centuries to illustrate how architecture was a critical tool for commmunicating changing ideas regarding criminals and their confinement.

Followed by an optional bus tour of Beaverbrook to 6:30 pm 

PLEASE NOTE: Registration for this event is now closed.

Join us for this informative, one-day event of presentations, walking tours and practical information focusing on Ottawa's Rich Rural and Suburban Heritage.

In keeping with the theme, this year’s event takes place at St.…

Planning for Ottawa has been underway since its choice as Canada’s capital in 1858. Focus of this planning has always been on the Parliamentary and Judicial Precincts located along Wellington Street. How have these plans evolved, and what is their current state?

The Long Term Vision and Plan for Ottawa’s Parliamentary and Judicial Precincts is now the focus of a national controversy, with plans to erect a large monument on a site originally identified for a third building to…

Rockcliffe Park has long been a Village within a city setting. Its early history is closely linked to Frederick Law Olmsted, whose remarkable planning philosophy was imported to Canada by entrepreneur T. C. Keefer. Historian Martha Edmond will explore the origins and present character of Rockcliffe with particular emphasis on development pressures that now put the Olmsted/Keefer vision to the test.

In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Conserving the Modern in Canada Conference held at Trent University in 2005, the National Capital Commission's Capital Urbanism Lab is pleased to invite the public  to Conserving the Modern, a discussion on conserving the legacy of modern architecture and design.

Architects, landscape architects and engineers of the 20th century used experimental materials and construction techniques to create buildings and shape places. They espoused…

Beginning as a settlement built on the forest frontier, Ottawa has largely been shaped by Modern ideas over the past two centuries. Since Confederation, it has had a complicated relationship with the rest of Canada and with its own self-identity as a city. Told through Ottawa’s buildings and landscapes this presentation examines Ottawa’s modern built heritage, recounting how Ottawa was often on the ‘frontier’ of modern architecture.

Beechwood Cemetery was established in Ottawa in 1873. Now almost one hundred and fifty years old, it is recognized for its naturalistic, pastoral and picturesque landscape. It features a number of prominent elements, among them the 1930s Gothic Revival Beechwood Community Mausoleum. While the Mausoleum stands today as an ornament in the cemetery grounds, this lecture will explore the intriguing story behind its construction as one of speculation, ambition, and ultimately loss for all…

The National Capital Commission (NCC) and Heritage Ottawa are proud to present a panel discussion about emerging ideas in Canadian and international heritage conservation, and how these ideas might inspire conservation in Canada's Capital.

Entitled …

Ottawa is home to some of the loveliest shoreline driveways in the world with the Rideau Canal Driveway, the first beautification project of the capital. This lecture will present the history of the driveways and parkways that grace the Rideau Canal and the Ottawa River, and position their significance as cultural landscapes to be treasured and as a source of pride here and among capital cities.

Photo: Linda Dicaire

Dr. Lilly Koltun will lead an irreverant promenade through the history of portraiture in Canada, leaving us to wonder at the unexpected wealth we've inherited in that art as well as the challenging lives of the people who bequeathed their portraits to us. Not least, we'll recognize the enduring love we have of seeing and presenting ourselves!

The East Block was designed in 1859 as one of the first Gothic Revival office buildings and it was an early example of the style’s first phase of development. The talk will focus upon how the East Block’s High Victorian Gothic style was influenced by the challenges of new urbanism. It illustrates the debates that surrounded the style’s development, including the influence of Ruskin and Scott, and contemporary scientific discoveries.

This month’s lecture features two talks on local monuments. Meredith Stewart offers a new perspective on the heritage value of the Champagne and Plant Baths “The Public Baths in Ottawa: A Heritage Reconsidered.” Caitlin Charbonneau situates Lowertown’s St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts in broader context with her talk on “Threatened Churches and the Preservation of Heritage Values: Adaptive Reuse of Ontario Churches.”

This month’s lecture features two talks on local monuments. Meredith Stewart offers a new perspective on the heritage value of the Champagne and Plant Baths “The Public Baths in Ottawa: A Heritage Reconsidered.” Caitlin Charbonneau situates Lowertown’s St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts in broader context with her talk on “Threatened Churches and the Preservation of Heritage Values: Adaptive Reuse of Ontario Churches.”

A.W.N. Pugin, best known as a designer of Gothic churches and the decoration of the Palace of Westminster, perhaps had his greatest impact designing residences that were completely different from any historic precedent. Their most important feature was the pinwheel plan, where rooms revolve around a central staircase hall. This lecture will introduce us to Pugin and the Gothic Revival and the influence of his neglected domestic architecture on later English residential building.

This…