Rockcliffe Park Residents Association

On May 28, 2024, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, with responsibility for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, declared that the historic district of Rockcliffe Park in Ottawa has been designated a national historic site. This is a singular distinction and a first for the city. 

The announcement follows an application for this designation by the Rockcliffe Park Residents Association in 2021. The submission was endorsed by Ottawa City Council. 

While there are over 1,000 national historic sites across Canada (including the Parliament Buildings, Château Laurier, National Arts Centre, Rideau Canal, and Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, no name a few), only 33 of these are historic districts of national significance, and just three are in Ontario. 

Building on centuries of First Nations’ history as hunting grounds and as an important crossroads of portage routes, the story of the Village of Rockcliffe Park begins in 1864. Thomas McKay – one of the principal builders of the Rideau Canal - owned land by his home Rideau Hall, today the residence of the Governor General, that he used for grazing cattle. 

His son-in-law, the visionary engineer Thomas Keefer, saw development potential and laid out a plan for an entirely new type of residential community - of houses in a park-like setting, narrow curving roads that follow the natural topography with no sidewalks or curbs, an abundance of trees, large lots with careful siting and scaling of homes, natural materials, and quietude. Anyone who purchased a property was obliged to plant trees – creating the unifying landscape that remains essential to Rockcliffe’s heritage character today. 

Some 160 years later, the village comprises about 785 residences in an area close to 440 acres. We are immensely proud that it has been accorded the rare recognition as a national historic district. Today, we are celebrating another vision – that of generation after generation of residents of Rockcliffe Park who have dedicated their time, effort, finances, and love of community to protect and enhance this area of quiet natural beauty in the heart of our nation’s capital. We who continue in their footsteps know that it is often not easy to preserve this historic sense of place. 

The fact that Rockcliffe Park was an independent self-governing municipality, making its own decisions for much of its history, made this possible. Entirely residential – with a community hall and library financed by residents, three schools, a rare 9,000 year-old meromictic lake, parklands and a conservation area, enveloped in subdued lighting and tranquility - it created its own official plan and by-laws that carefully governed development. In 1997, this was more fully articulated when it became a heritage conservation district protected under Ontario legislation. It became part of the City of Ottawa only in 2001. 

Another factor that has made the preservation of the heritage of Rockcliffe Park possible is tied to the role that Ottawa plays as capital of Canada. Many foreign countries shoulder the responsibility and expense of maintaining official residences in some of the grander properties dating from the era of Ottawa lumber barons and early industrialists. Norway, for example, has carefully maintained since 1949 Rockcliffe’s oldest intact residence – the wonderful Crichton Lodge on Lisgar Road built in the 1880s and owned by another of Thomas McKay’s sons-in-law. We heartily recognize the debt of gratitude we owe these countries and their succession of ambassadors. 

While the honour conferred today on Rockcliffe Park by the Government of Canada carries no legal protection of any kind, it is a singular distinction. An official celebration of this designation is being planned by the Government of Canada in collaboration with the Rockcliffe Park Residents Association and the Rockcliffe Park Foundation, to be held in September. 

Rockcliffe Park survives – it is here for all to celebrate and to quietly enjoy! 

CLICK HERE for the Rockcliffe Park Residents Association press release, including an Appendix listing the 34 National Historic Districts in Canada.

CLICK HERE to read Parks Canada's Rockcliffe Park Historic District National Historic Site designation. 

Join us on a Walking Tour of ROCKCLIFFE PARK EAST on Sunday, June 9!