The Connaught Building is a historic

office building An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific d ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, owned by

Public Services and Procurement Canada Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC; french: Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada)''Public Services and Procurement Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Public Works ...

. It is located at 555 MacKenzie Avenue, just south of the American Embassy. To the east, the building looks out on the Byward Market, and to the west is MacKenzie Avenue and

Major's Hill Park Major's Hill Park is a park in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. The park stands above the Rideau Canal at the point where it enters the Ottawa River. The parliament buildings can be seen across the canal to the west, to the north of the park is the Na ...

. Today, it houses a portion of Headquarters operations for the

Canada Revenue Agency The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA; ; ) is the revenue service of the Canadian federal government, and most provincial and territorial governments. The CRA collects taxes, administers tax law and policy, and delivers benefit programs and tax c ...

(CRA). The Minister and Commissioner of the CRA have offices in the building.

History

By the early 20th century, the Parliament Buildings were running out of space to house Canada's civil service and offices of the legislative branch of the government. The

Tudor Tudor most commonly refers to: * House of Tudor, English royal house of Welsh origins ** Tudor period, a historical era in England coinciding with the rule of the Tudor dynasty Tudor may also refer to: Architecture * Tudor architecture, the fin ...

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

structure was designed by chief architect

David Ewart David Ewart, ISO (18 February 1841 – 6 June 1921) was a Canadian architect who served as Chief Dominion Architect from 1896 to 1914. As chief government architect he was responsible for many of the federal buildings constructed in this peri ...

, who also did the similarly modified Norman style architecture of the Victoria Memorial Building of the Canadian Museum of Nature and the

Royal Canadian Mint }) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada. The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactur ...

. Work began on the building in 1913, but the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

and other problems intervened, greatly slowing construction. The building was completed in 1915 and first used as the Customs Examining Warehouse by the

Canada Customs The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cus ...

(then the country's customs and border security agency). The building was named after the

Duke of Connaught Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was granted on 24 May 1874 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to her third son, Prince Arthur. At the same time, he was also ...

, third son of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, who served as 10th

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...

from 1911–16. It had one basement level and seven levels above ground. In 1971, the building underwent extensive renovation and two additional levels were created by building floors inside the high ceilings of the basement and ground floors. The building subsequently comprised two basement levels and eight above grade levels (on the Sussex Drive side). The third floor also exits to MacKenzie Avenue at street level. The Connaught Building was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

in 1990, on the basis that the building is a testament to Sir

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...

's commitment to the enhancement of architecture in Canada's capital, and as it is one of the best works of David Ewart. The building has been designated since 1988, as a "

Federal Heritage Building The Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office (FHBRO) was established in 1982 after the Government of Canada adopted an internal policy on managing heritage buildings. Today, federal heritage is incorporated into the Government of Canada's Treasur ...

" of "Classified" Status, the highest level of protection for federally owned buildings, primarily for its architectural significance.Parks Canada - Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office
Register
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Gallery

File:Connaught Building.JPG, Connaught Building File:Connaught Building NW Corner.jpg, Northwest Corner File:Connaught_2022.jpg, Westside

References

External links

*
Connaught Building
– Canadian Register of Historic Places {{NHSC Federal government buildings in Ottawa Gothic Revival architecture in Ottawa Designated heritage properties in Ottawa Office buildings in Canada Sussex Drive