The Sir Charles Tupper Building on its completion in 1960 served as the headquarters of the Department of Public Works, known by its applied title as

Public Services and Procurement Canada Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC; ),''Public Services and Procurement Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Public Works and Government Services (). formerly Public Works ...

. Public Services and Procurement Canada later moved its headquarters to Gatineau, Quebec, across the Ottawa River from Ottawa. The building also housed some

Health Canada Health Canada (HC; )Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary units, department of the Gove ...

operations, notably the headquarters of the

Pest Management Regulatory Agency The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is the Canadian government agency responsible for the regulation of pest control products in Canada under the federal authority of the '' Pest Control Products Act'' and Regulations. The agency is a bra ...

. It was named in honour of the

Father of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...

and sixth Prime Minister of Canada. In 2023, the Government of Canada indicated that it plans to dispose of the building.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-offices-housing-conversion-federal-downtown-1.7084049 The Tupper building is one of the five original facilities making up the Confederation Heights development completed from the late 1950s into the 1960s, in accordance with the

Greber Plan The General Report on the Plan for the National Capital (1946–1950), or Gréber Plan, was a major urban plan developed for Canada's National Capital Region in 1950 by Jacques Gréber, commissioned by the Federal District Commission of Ottawa, ...

to decentralize Federal government functions. Built in

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 ...

on a large sloping site at Confederation Heights, the Tupper building consists of five thin, interlocking rectangular blocks, four/five stories tall, laid out at right angles in a geometric, stair-like arrangement. While the internal arrangements of the building have changed over time, its outside appearance has remained the same. In recognition of its architectural importance, the Sir Charles Tupper building was added to the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 2007.

References

External links

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Treasury Board of Canada Inventory - Sir Charles Tupper BuildingSir Charles Tupper Building - Canadian Register of Historic Places (Parks Canada)
Federal government buildings in Ottawa Government buildings completed in 1960 Modernist architecture in Canada Office buildings in Ottawa 1960 establishments in Ontario {{Canada-gov-stub