Former Ottawa City Hall - Now the John G. Diefenbaker Building - Ottawa, Ontario
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N 45° 26.403 W 075° 41.697
18T E 445648 N 5032071
Moshe Sadie, an AIA Gold Medal recipient in 2015, was selected to carry out the re-design of the former Ottawa City Hall (now the John G. Diefenbaker Building) in 1992-93,
Waymark Code: WMYAV9
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 05/22/2018
Views: 15
Construction
The building is located on Green Island at the point where the Rideau River empties into the Ottawa River. The historic city hall on Elgin Street had been destroyed by a fire in 1931. For the next 27 years the city operated out of temporary offices in the Transportation Building. The International Style building was opened on August 2, 1958 by Princess Margaret as a member of the Canadian Royal Family. It is noted for being the first building in Ottawa to be fully air conditioned. 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 original drawings for the building are held at the McGill University Library Special Collections as part of the John Bland Archive.
City hall expansion
In 1988 Ottawa mayor Jim Durrell initiated a controversial scheme to expand the building, quadrupling its original size. Architect Moshe Safdie was chosen for the redesign, carried out in 1992-93. 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. Then a conflict 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 was erected.
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