The John G. Diefenbaker Building is a building in the

New Edinburgh New Edinburgh is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located to the northeast of the downtown core. It is bordered on the west by the Rideau River, to the north by the Ottawa River, to the south by Beec ...

neighbourhood of

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The building served as Ottawa's

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

from August 2, 1958, to January 1, 2001, and afterward was commonly known as Old City Hall. Purchased in 2003 by the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

, it was known by its municipal address, 111 Sussex Drive, until September 2011 when it was renamed after Canada's 13th prime minister,

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...

. The building is located on Green Island where the

Rideau River The Rideau River (, ) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writing by Samuel de Champl ...

empties into the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

Construction

After Ottawa's

on Elgin Street was destroyed by a fire in 1931, the city operated for the next 27 years out of temporary offices in the Transportation Building. The new

international style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

building was opened on August 2, 1958, by

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

as a member of the Canadian Royal Family. It was designed by John Bland of the firm Rother, Bland, and Trudeau, and is considered one of the most important International Style buildings in Canada, winning the Massey Medal for design in 1959. The structure was noted for being the first building in Ottawa to be fully

air conditioned Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

. The original drawings for the building are held at the

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Library Special Collections as part of the John Bland Archive.

Expansion

In 1988, Ottawa mayor

Jim Durrell James A. Durrell (born December 15, 1946) is a Canadian business owner, former politician and president of the Ottawa Senators. He served as Mayor of Ottawa from 1985 to 1991. Durrell has extensive governance experience and has served on numer ...

initiated a controversial scheme to expand the building, quadrupling its original size. Architect

Moshe Safdie Moshe Safdie (; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author. He is well known for incorporating principles of socially responsible design throughout his six-decade career. His projects include cultural, ed ...

was chosen for the redesign, completed in 1994. Conflict soon broke out between Safdie and the city. Safdie demanded a higher fee and delayed the project for several months before the city acquiesced to his demand. Further disagreements broke out over a pair of eighteen story observation towers. City council voted to cut the towers to save the million dollars they cost. This infuriated Safdie who felt the towers were essential to the design. The panel that picked the design had singled out the tower as one of the highlights of the design. Eventually the city compromised and a bare

scaffold Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other human-made structures. Scaffolds are widely u ...

was erected instead. The new building caused considerable controversy in the city with some liking the design, but others seeing the $72 million structure a waste of money. The building was much larger than the city needed and for several years large sections were vacant.

Federal government ownership

In 1999, offices were rented out to

Global Affairs Canada Global Affairs Canada (GAC; ; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department of the Government of Canada that ...

, which is based at the nearby Lester B. Pearson Building. After Ottawa's amalgamation on January 1, 2001, it was decided that the new municipal government would be based at a new location: the former headquarters of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton would become Ottawa City Hall. This building was considerably smaller, but was located closer to the city's centre. In 2003, the former city hall was sold to the federal

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

. Today the building mainly houses Global Affairs Canada employees. For several months in 2004, it was the site of the Gomery Inquiry hearings during the

Sponsorship Scandal The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. ...

References

{{coord, 45, 26, 23.68, N, 75, 41, 40.78, W, type:landmark_region:CA-ON, display=title Government buildings completed in 1958 City and town halls in Ontario Federal government buildings in Ottawa Modernist architecture in Canada International style architecture in Canada Moshe Safdie buildings Former seats of local government Designated heritage properties in Ottawa Sussex Drive John Diefenbaker