4. The Commissariat Building / Bytown Museum
No place is more closely linked to the founding of Bytown than the Rideau Canal, and the most iconic site of the whole Canal is the flight of eight locks which link the Canal with the Ottawa River. Built from 1826 to 1832 to protect British North America from the Americans, construction of the canal was overseen by Royal Engineer Lieutenant-Colonel John By, after whom Bytown was named.
The Commissariat Building itself was erected in 1827 to serve principally as a storage depot for the construction materials needed for the Canal, as the extra-wide freight doors indicate. The building also accommodated office space and had at one time a residential function. Some interior features, such as the fireplace on the third floor, were part of that residential function.
The handsome if somber design of a structure of day-to-day purposes attests to the high standards of design and construction demanded by Colonel By. The quality of the stonework is truly exceptional and is a lasting tribute to the Corps of Royal Engineers, and to the stonemasons and labourers who were responsible for the Canal itself. This is the oldest stone building in the National Capital.
The Commissariat Building is part of one of the most significant cultural landscapes in the National Capital. Colonel By Valley is defined by the steep stone walls that frame it, on the east side leading up to the Chateau Laurier and Kìwickì Point, and on the west side by Parliament Hill itself. The locks link the Rideau Canal to the Ottawa River, one of the great rivers of North America, an historic trade route leading to the heart of the continent, and a site with a millennia-old relationship with the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. The landscape bordering the locks and surrounding the Commissariat Building was restored to its original layout in the 1990s.
The Commissariat Building was given a new life when it became the home of the Bytown Museum. The Bytown Museum was founded in 1917 by the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa, which moved their museum into the Commissariat in the 1950s. The Bytown Museum is a must-see for anyone who wants to learn about the origins of Bytown. Like the Canal and the nearby Lockmaster’s House, the Commissariat Building is owned by Parks Canada.
The Commissariat Building is a Classified Federal Heritage Building, the highest designation for a federally-owned heritage property. In 2007, the Rideau Canal National Historic Site of Canada was declared a World Heritage Site, and the Commissariat Building is part of that prestigious designation.
Photo: Bytown Museum Ottawa
Sources
Directory of Federal Heritage Designations https://parks.canada.ca/culture/dfhd.aspx
Historicplaces.ca https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=11116
Marilyn Armstrong-Reynolds, Eleven Buildings, Northern Area, Rideau Canal, Ontario, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 91-131 to 91-175.
