7 Clarence Among Three Heritage Projects OK'd by Planning Committee

Rendering of final design for 7 Clarence Street / National Capital Commission

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The city’s planning committee quickly endorsed three heritage-related items Tuesday.

The committee approved the National Capital Commission’s latest plan to replace a ByWard Market heritage building, which was torn down last year after engineers ruled the 135-year-old structure was “clearly beyond the point of reconstruction.”

There was huge neighbourhood outcry in 2014, both at the news that 7 Clarence had to be demolished, and at the initial “glass box” design for a replacement building. But after extensive consultation with neighbours and heritage advocates, the NCC and its architect — CSV Architects of Ottawa — came up with a design that was generally well-received.

The building is scheduled for completion by the fall of 2016 and is slated for use as a temporary exhibition space for the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation in 2017.

The committee approved a heritage designation for a 70-year-old industrial building in Mechanicsville.

The property at 7 Bayview Rd. — also known as Municipal Works Building No. 4 — is an early 1940s example of an industrial building influenced by the “modern style,” according to a city staff report that recommended designating the structure as heritage.

The Bayview building is included in the first phase of a planned Innovation Centre that was approved by the last term of council with the expectation that the building would be protected as a heritage site.

The first phase of the plan is scheduled to cost $30 million. The province committed half the money last year; the city will provide the remainder, including the property, which is assessed at $8 million.

The committee also approved construction of a new, six-storey building at the southeast corner of Bank and Lisgar streets, which is within the Centretown heritage conservation district.

Designed by Farrow Dreessen Architects, the mixed-use building would have retail on the ground floor and 22 condominiums above.

Note from Heritage Ottawa: The recommendations of the Planning Committe will be forwarded to Ottawa City Council on April 15, 2015 for final approval.