Rideau Street
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rideau Street (Ottawa Road #34) is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is one of Ottawa's most famous Streets. It serves as the major east-west Street for Ottawa's Lower Town. The street used to be Ontario Provincial Highway 17B before it was downgraded in 1998. It runs from the Rideau Canal in the west (it turns into Wellington Street) to the Rideau River in the east, where it turns into Montreal Road, in Vanier. Rideau Street is also home to the Chateau Laurier and the Government Conference Centre (Ottawa's former central train station).
For many years, Rideau Street was one of Ottawa's primary retail thoroughfares, containing Freimans, Ogilvy's and Caplan's department stores. Although the local department stores are gone, Rideau Street still features The Bay department store, the Rideau Centre shopping mall, and the street is adjacent to shops of the Byward Market.
As Rideau Street goes east and passes King Edward Avenue, it changes from the upscale and busy Market area to the poorer, often-ignored Lower Town district (mostly on the north side of Rideau). This traditionally Francophone area is now home to a variety of immigrant groups, notably many Francophone Africans and Somalians. To the south of Rideau Street is the wealthier Sandy Hill neighborhood, with its mix of embassies, upper-class houses, low- and high-rise apartment buildings, and student housing.
[edit] See also
| Ottawa, Ontario Roads |
|---|
| Provincial Highways 7 • 416 • 417 Major Arteries |
