Ottawa's Carnegie Library Remnants, Ottawa, Ontario
Posted by: 
bluelamb03
N 45° 27.346 W 075° 40.731
18T E 446922 N 5033806
The remains of Ottawa's Carnegie Library preserved in the Rockliffe Rockeries, a public garden.
Waymark Code: WMBE7J
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 05/11/2011
Views: 30
Ottawa's Carnegie Library was completed in 1905 and officially opened by Andrew Carnegie himself on April 30th, 1906. The Toronto Globe article of May 1st details the busy day. This was the only Carnegie Library opened in Ontario by Mr. Carnegie himself! The University of Guelph's Libraries page has a nice photograph of the building, built at the corner of Laurier Ave West and Metcalfe St., as well as some architectural details. By 1970 the Carnegie Library was far too small, and on far too valuable land, and so was torn down and replaced with a 'modern' building.
But all was not lost, the tall columns and decorative pediments of the building were salvaged by the National Capital Commission and taken to a public garden in the village of Rockliffe Park (now a part of Ottawa), where they remain today with an explanatory plaque to satisfy the curious!
Mr. Carnegie famously said that a wealthy man could never be happy, I hope his gift to the people of Ottawa made him truly happy. He was a great man!