Heritage Ottawa 2009 Walking Tour Schedule and Info

Join us for an hour-and-a-half walk highlighting some of Ottawa’s finest architecture!

Tour Prices:

Heritage Ottawa members: $5.00
Non-members: $10.00

All Tours begin at 2:00 PM unless otherwise indicated.

The 2009 tours and tour dates are listed below.

Scroll down below the list to view detailed information about each tour.

1. Central Experimental Farm

June 14, 2 :00 pm – MEET : Dominion Observatory parking lot, SE corner Carling at Irving

During the tour of the built heritage and cultural landscape of the Central Experimental Farm, your guide will encourage participants to consider the future of this National Historic Site and ways that Ottawa residents might protect its heritage value.
(Wear appropriate footgear as lawns will be wet if it rains)

GUIDE : Katharine Fletcher, award-winning author and eco-journalist. Her five books reveal the human and natural history of Ottawa, the National Capital Region and Gatineau Park.

2. Chaudière Industrial Heritage District

June 21, 2:00 pm – MEET: former Naval Association building, 150 Middle Street, east off of Booth Street on Victoria Island – free parking

The area around the Chaudière Falls has been the core of Ottawa/Gatineau economic life from aboriginal times until the present. The 18th, 19th and early 20th century industrial developments are a microcosm of the development of Canada’s water and forest resources. The walk will look at sites of this industry on both sides of the river and take a closer look at the Falls and the potential for heritage re-development of this district.

GUIDE: Mark Thompson Brandt, Ottawa-based Conservation Architect and Urbanist, author of the 1990 Chaudière District Master Plan for the NCC, and former Vice-President of Heritage Ottawa.

3. The Buildings of External Affairs

June 28, 2:00 pm – MEET: In front of the East Block of Parliament

The Department of External Affairs was established 100 years ago. In the early years, its headquarters were in the East Block, but by 1973, when the department moved into the Lester B. Pearson Building, its offices were spread over more than two dozen buildings around Ottawa and Hull. This tour will look at only a few of them as it moves from the East Block to the Pearson Building on Sussex.

GUIDE: Richard Belliveau, retired foreign service officer.

4. Village of Britannia

July 12, 2:00 pm – MEET: Parking Lot 380 Greenview, north of Carling and Pinecrest

Discover the story of Britannia’s emergence as a late-Victorian resort destination. The extension of the city’s streetcar tracks westward in 1900 brought Ottawa’s leisure seekers ushering in the golden years before the First World War. Many early cottages have survived, some still evoking the character of the old summer resort community.

GUIDE: Carolyn Quinn, Director of Communications, Heritage Canada Foundation

5. Ottawa’s Historic Financial District

July 26, 2:00 pm – MEET: the NCC Infocentre, Wellington at Metcalfe

From the former “Bankers Row” on Wellington Street via Greek and Roman inspired banking temples on Sparks Street to the monumental Bank of Canada, the work of Ottawa’s and Canada’s leading architects is woven into over 160-years of history of Ottawa’s banks.

GUIDE: David Jeanes, vice-president of Heritage Ottawa, a professional engineer, and an avid student of Ottawa’s architectural and transportation history.

6. Lowertown West

August 2, 10:00 am (NOTE TIME)* - MEET : Colonel By statue, Major’s Hill Park

This is the heart of old Bytown where canal workers first settled and some of Ottawa's earliest residential, commercial, and institutional structures can be found. The walk will take participants around Major’s Hill Park, up to Nepean Point, and then will look at some of the historic buildings in Lowertown and the ByWard Market.
GUIDE: Hagit Hadaya, architectural historian

7. Architecture and Engineering along the Rideau Canal*

August 16, 2:00 pm – MEET: Colonel By Fountain in Confederation Park, Laurier Ave W at Elgin

From the Bytown Museum to the Corktown Bridge, a look at the architecture and engineering of buildings and bridges that can be seen along the first mile of the Rideau Canal World Heritage Site.

GUIDE: David Jeanes, vice-president of Heritage Ottawa, a professional engineer, and an avid student of Ottawa’s architectural and transportation history.
*This tour will also be offered on Saturday afternoon August 01 at the Rideau Canal festival.

8. University of Ottawa Campus, Historic Sector

August 23, 2:00 pm – MEET: Tabaret Hall entrance, 550 Cumberland at Laurier Ave E

Discover the rich architecture and history of the University of Ottawa, established in 1848. This institution is North America’s oldest and most important bilingual university. The tour begins with Tabaret Hall, based on Washington’s Capitol Building and one of Ottawa’s finest examples of Classical Revival architecture.

GUIDE : Michel Prévost, University of Ottawa chief archivist

9. Parliament Hill

September 13, 2:00 pm – MEET: Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill

On this tour you will see the monumental grouping of the Centre Block, Library, and East and West Blocks of the Parliament, as well as the buildings that form an integral part of the parliamentary precinct, such as the Langevin, Victoria, Wellington, Confederation and Justice Buildings.

GUIDE: Fern Mackenzie, architectural historian

10. The Glebe

September 20, 2:00 pm – MEET: Corner of Clemow and O’Connor

W.E. Noffke (1878-1964) was one of Ottawa's most influential architects in the first half of the 20th century. The walk begins with the ten diverse Noffke houses, including his own, built around Central Park/Patterson Creek, moving along to a sample of Younghusband houses and other more modest houses, historic schools and churches, and newer infill developments by notable Ottawa architects.

GUIDE: John McLeod, Glebe resident and heritage buff

11. Village of Rockcliffe Park

September 27, 2:00 pm – MEET: Lisgar Road at Princess Avenue

The mix of architectural styles in picturesque Rockcliffe Park range from stately stone mansions and interesting contemporary designs to remaining summer cottages. Learn about the history of the village and the role the MacKay and Keefer families had in determining its layout and the design of many of its homes.

GUIDE: Martha Edmond, author of Rockcliffe Park: A History of the Village

12. Sandy Hill

October 4, 2:00 pm – MEET: Laurier House, 335 Laurier Ave E at Chapel

The tour looks at late 19th – early 20th century buildings of historical or architectural importance in the northeast quadrant of Sandy Hill, an area favoured by lumber barons, mining magnates and politicians in Ottawa’s early years. Sandy Hill was home to four Canadian Prime Ministers

GUIDE: Judy Deegan, Sandy Hill resident and heritage activist

13. Old Ottawa South

October 18, 2:00 pm – MEET: Southminster United Church, Bank at Alymer

In 1907, Nepean Township villages such as Ottawa South were annexed to the City of Ottawa. Improved city services soon followed, such as a new high-level Bank Street Bridge over the canal. It allowed the privately-owned Ottawa Electric Railway to extend streetcar services, stimulating housing and development of one of Ottawa’s first streetcar suburbs.

GUIDE: Leo Doyle, Development and Planning Committee, Old Ottawa South

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