John G. Diefenbaker Building facts for kids
The John G. Diefenbaker Building is an important building in Ottawa, Ontario. It's located in the New Edinburgh area. Many people know it as Old City Hall because it used to be Ottawa's main city office.
This building served as the city hall from August 2, 1958, until January 1, 2001. In 2003, the Government of Canada bought it. For a while, it was just called "111 Sussex Drive," which was its address. But in September 2011, it got a new name. It was named after John Diefenbaker, who was Canada's 13th Prime Minister.
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Building's History and Design
This special building sits on Green Island. This is where the Rideau River flows into the bigger Ottawa River. Ottawa's previous city hall on Elgin Street was destroyed by a fire in 1931. For 27 years, the city government worked from temporary offices.
The current building opened on August 2, 1958. Princess Margaret, a member of the Canadian Royal Family, officially opened it. It was designed in a style called International Style. This building was the first in Ottawa to have full air conditioning.
Who Designed the Building?
The architect who designed the original building was John Bland. He worked for the firm Rother, Bland and Trudeau. Experts consider it one of the most important International Style buildings in Canada. It even won the Massey Medal for design in 1959. You can find the original drawings for the building at the McGill University Library.
Expanding the City Hall
In 1988, Ottawa's mayor, Jim Durrell, wanted to make the building much bigger. The plan was to make it four times its original size. A famous architect named Moshe Safdie was chosen for this big redesign. The expansion work happened between 1992 and 1993.
Challenges During Expansion
There were some disagreements during the project. Safdie asked for more money, which delayed the work for several months. The city eventually agreed to pay him more. Then, another problem came up about two tall observation towers. City council decided to remove the towers to save a million dollars.
This made Safdie very upset because he felt the towers were a key part of his design. The group that first picked his design had even highlighted the towers as a great feature. In the end, the city and Safdie reached a compromise. They built a basic scaffold structure instead of the full towers.
Public Opinion on the New Design
The new, larger building caused a lot of talk in the city. Some people liked the modern design. But others thought the $72 million cost was too much money. The building ended up being much larger than the city needed. For several years, many parts of it were empty.
In 1999, offices were rented out to Global Affairs Canada. This government department is located nearby. Renting out these offices helped to fill up most of the building.
Owned by the Canadian Government
On January 1, 2001, Ottawa joined with several nearby towns and areas. This created a much larger city. The new city decided to move its main offices to a different building at 110 Laurier Avenue West. This new location was smaller but closer to the city center.
In 2003, the Old City Hall was sold to the federal Public Works department. Today, the building is mainly used by employees from Global Affairs Canada. It was also the location for the Gomery Inquiry hearings for several months.
