Department of National Defence Headquarters (Canada)
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The Department of National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) is the headquarters for Canada's Department of National Defence (DND) and is located in the Major-General George R. Pearkes Building at 101 Colonel By Drive in Ottawa, Ontario.
The building was constructed between 1969 and 1974, and was originally intended for use by the Department of Transport. When a planned Defence headquarters on the LeBreton Flats was not built, however, DND acquired the Colonel By Drive structure. The concept for the building (actually a group of buildings) was developed by French town planner Jacques Gréber immediately after World War II at the invitation of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Gréber, a proponent of boulevards and highways as opposed to rail corridors, advised that the city redevelop the east bank of the Rideau Canal which was, at that time, covered with railway tracks leading to Ottawa Union Station. This was accomplished and with the removal of the tracks, the station has become the Government Conference Centre. The remaining land that contained the coach yard for Ottawa Union Station was vacant and ready for developments that would contain the Pearkes Building and the Rideau Centre.
Architects John C. Parkin, Searle, Wilby, and Rowland designed the buildings in the then popular Brutalism style. Over the years many critics have generally conceeded that they are among the ugliest of Ottawa government towers. They were conceived as the first phase of the planned redevelopment, the Rideau Centre, which open across Rideau St in 1983, being the second phase.
The present NDHQ building is now overcrowded and the DND has headquarters staff spread out across the National Capital Region. Sizeable Defence headquarters offices have been established in the past, or are still currently located in The Export Building, The Constitution Building, l'Esplanade Laurier, Louis St Laurent Building (Gatineau, QC) and the Berger Building among others. The threat of terrorist attacks has also lead to the permanent closure of an access road that runs beneath the connecting section of the two buildings. Recent cutbacks in high-technology companies in the Ottawa region has led the DND to consider buying a surplus JDS Uniphase campus in suburban Barrhaven at the intersection of Merivale Road and Prince of Wales Drive, west of the Ottawa International Airport. JDS's Barrhaven campus is comprised of two large buildings with extensive computer networking capacity, and is currently selling for a fraction of what it cost to construct. The location is far more secure, in being set back from public roads, and has ample parking and transit connections for the several thousand employees it was designed to support.
The current facility was largely gutted floor by floor in the mid 1990s to replace the hodge podge of outdated offices and furnishings from the building's opening. Modular office furnishing produced by CORCAN made in Canadian prisons were installed.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, an increased level of concern for Federal installations, prompted officials to close the vehicular thoroughfare that passes beneath the center portion of the building. A dramatic architectural feature (and potential vulnerability), it was immediately cordoned off following the events of September 11, 2001 using concrete barriers. Work is now underway to permanently close off the thoroughfare that formerly linked Nicholas Street to Colonel By Drive and the adjacent Rideau Canal.
The National Defence building and the adjacent Rideau Centre are both served by OC Transpo's Mackenzie King Transitway station.
The facility is often referred to tongue-in-cheek as "The Puzzle Palace", "Disneyland North" or "Fort Fumble on the Rideau", especially by service personnel not serving there.
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
- Street map from Mapquest or Google Maps
- Satellite image from Google Maps
- Topographical map from Maptech
