Developer unveils another attempt at Château Laurier design

A rendering of the proposed Chateau Laurier addition from the Rideau Canal (above) and Majors Hill Park (below). Images: Larco Investments

Thursday, February 8, 2018

New plans created after original design derided by critics

CBC NEWS OTTAWA 

Update: Read Heritage Ottawa's position statement of March 5, 2018 regarding the latest proposed addition to the Château Laurier.

Developers have unveiled new design plans for the Château Laurier parking garage after the original plans sparked fury among Ottawa residents.

The new addition to the hotel, which opened in 1912 and was declared a national historic site in 1980, will replace a crumbling 5-storey parking garage that's set for demolition.

According to a news release, the public consultations sparked "a totally new approach" to the design. The new plans consist of an 8-storey pavilion with 171 new guest suites, and will use materials such as white steel and glass.

The distance between the original building and the new addition has also been increased, jumping from 5.9 metres to 18.35 metres. According to the press release, the increase will "allow for the two to be distinctly separate."

The ballroom windows currently facing the parking garage will be turned into doors that lead into an interior courtyard and garden, according to the release.

Developers said the addition is also expected to include a green roof. Construction could begin as early as 2019, the release said.

Architects and owners of the iconic hotel first put forward drawings of a modern glass addition to the building in September 2016, which featured two attached wings that were 11 and 12 storeys high and included 218 more guest rooms.

The design sparked a fierce online backlash and prompted a do-over in November 2016.

But the second attempt bore a striking resemblance to the first iteration — one that critics said was "jarring," "box-like," a "post-modernist mess" and "like a Travelodge has rear-ended a castle" — so designers went back to the drawing board.

Larco Investments, which bought the hotel in 2013, wanted to move the parking garage underground and add up to 200 more rooms. The company tapped Toronto-based architect Peter Clewes to do the job.

The Château Laurier currently has 426 rooms and hasn't gone through any major changes in about 50 years. The hotel shut down its deteriorating parking garage, built in 1969, in early January due to safety concerns.

A report tabled at the city's build-heritage subcommittee on Jan. 11 shed light on troubles with the four-storey, five-level outdoor garage.

In the last year, netting was installed to ensure concrete didn't fall on guests or their vehicles in the garage, which underwent major repairs in 1983 and 2001, the report said.

 

Read Heritage Ottawa's position statement on the proposed Château Laurier addition here.