A Fortress For National Revenue

Happy Fourth of July to my American readers! I have a post for the occasion up at my writer's blog, so go and have a look!

The Connaught Building is one I've featured before in the blog, but always the exterior. It's been a regular fixture in Doors Open for years. Designed by architect David Ewart, who also designed the building now housing the Global Centre for Pluralism that I showed you earlier in the series, as well as the Royal Canadian Mint and the Museum of Nature, it looks very much like a castle. Opened in 1915, it was named for the Duke of Connaught, a son of Queen Victoria and a governor general of Canada from 1911-16. It is in modified Norman style, with elements of Tudor and Gothic along the way. First used as a customs examining warehouse by Canada Customs, it has been extensively renovated, and today is the national headquarters for the Canada Revenue Agency, which has thousands of employees across the country. It is a designated National Heritage Site.

Doors Open allowed for members of the public to go inside on a guided tour with a member of the staff. Lions flanked the entrance lobby. 

The staff guide took us up to the top floor conference room, which has a view across to Parliament Hill, which can be glimpsed in the window.

He also explained that the building has a ghostly reputation. Mr. Ewart had himself a mistress, it seems, and he promised her that when this building was complete, he would leave his wife for her. He didn't, and she took her own life. Unexplained occurrences have happened here since. Staffers working alone in the evening hear someone at their door, but no one is in the hall when they open it. Cold spots can be felt. Motion activated lights come on when no one is in that particular part of a floor. And people have caught sight of the fleeting glimpse of a woman's dress turning a corner in hallways before they can get a look at who's wearing it. And there's the matter of a cubicle on one floor that is no longer used, as misfortune such as deathly illness has come on everyone who has previously been assigned there. If the ghost makes any spot in the building her home, it must be that cubicle.

I came back a few days later for some more exterior shots of the building.

Fine Hardwood And Classrooms

This bell and hammer, dating back to the days of the Laurentian Club, caught my eye while I was in the house for Doors Open.

This staircase on the north side of the house, with its fine woodwork that would have come from J. R. Booth's day, also caught my eye. The student interns who live here during the academic year tend to have their quarters up on the third floor, rooms that would have been servant's quarters when the Booth family lived here. The second floor bedrooms that would have been for the Booth family are class and working space today.

Home Base For The Timber Baron

Returning today to my Doors Open series, today we have the Laurentian Centre. Built in 1906 for timber baron J. R. Booth as his residence, this later became home to the Laurentian Club. In 2000, Trinity Western University bought it to house a university internship program. where the students in the program take classes while interning in government or other offices here in Ottawa.

Booth's portrait hangs prominently in the front hall. Much of the wood in here would have come from his timber stands in central Ontario. He's featured earlier in this series- Booth's daughter lived in what is now the embassy of Algeria. I will have more from this place tomorrow.

Canada Day In The Nation's Capital

Today is Canada Day, and particularly the 150th anniversary of Confederation. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! If you haven't already seen it, check out my City Daily Photo theme day post for July, and have a look at my writer's blog for my other Canada Day tribute.

I thought I'd take you for a stroll around the Parliamentary precinct. I took most of these shots on a single day earlier in June. A stage was being erected on the front lawn before Centre Block at the time, one that will be a focal point for today's activities.

It had been awhile since I had last taken in this perspective, photographing the Peace Tower from an arched entrance at the East Block.

Another arched entry features here. This one is on the east side of Centre Block, and is used by senators.

Walking along the path behind Centre Block, this view looks across to Major's Hill Park, the National Gallery, and Notre Dame.

This one offers views of the Ottawa River, Gatineau, and Nepean Point where the Alexandra Bridge crosses. I'll be going over that bridge today to pay a visit to the Museum of History, one of several stops today.

The path behind Centre Block was open further this time than the last time I visited up here. As part of the work around Parliament Hill in terms of renovation and restoration, this area has been closed off for awhile. Public access presently ends here at the summer pavilion. You can see some of the work site infrastructure on the other side of it.

This bell rests close by. It was taken from the ruins of the original Centre Block when that building was destroyed by fire in 1916. The Library of Parliament, visible in the background of this shot, was the only part of that block to survive the fire, thanks to the timely closing of a heavy door by a clerk.

Coming back around, I paused by the main entrance at the base of the Peace Tower.

This gives another perspective of the stage.

This building, across the street from Parliament Hill, once housed the American Embassy. 

This shot from June 21st shows the same building soon after an announcement was made. On what is National Aboriginal Day, Prime Minister Trudeau announced here that the building is going to become an national indigenous centre, set to open by 2023. It will be quite a challenge to convert the building to such a new use while retaining its look, but an interesting idea. It stands in the heart of the Parliamentary precinct, in a place that promises, over time and careful work, to continue the path of reconciliation.

Heading down Wellington Street, I paused by the Wellington Building, another government building. The seal of the country is engraved in its side.

We Canadians have a reputation for being humble and self deprecating. This sign outside a shop in the Byward Market reflects that.

And I finish for the day with flags, hanging in two office complexes downtown, taken in the last few days. I shall be exceedingly busy here, so have a wonderful Canada Day!

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Motion

This is the first of two posts I have today; the second one will go live at 6 AM my time, and is a celebration of Canada Day and our 150th anniversary of Confederation. I also have a post for the occasion over at my writer's blog.

The first day of each month is a theme day for those members of City Daily Photo, and for July, that theme is Motion. You can see how others are interpreting the theme here. 

I am going with a decidedly cold take on the theme, having had taken these shots during the winter (I can just imagine some winter hating people are going to have something to say about that). There is a skating rink outside City Hall that is open from December into March, thus providing an alternative to the skating surface of the Rideau Canal. These shots were taken at night during the Christmas holidays of 2016, while those that follow were taken in the daytime during the same period. Aside from City Hall itself, the provincial courthouse and the Cartier Square Drill Hall feature into the background of some of these shots.

Back in early March, there was an event here that I covered in detail called Crashed Ice (click the tag at the end of this post if you'd like to see more). A large skating track was erected down along the Rideau Canal at the base of Parliament Hill, and speed skaters went down the route in competition. I thought a couple of shots of skaters in a pure blur certainly fit this theme.