Downtown Ottawa

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Coordinates: 45°25′20″N 75°42′00″W / 45.42222, -75.7
Downtown Ottawa
Downtown Ottawa Location of Downtown Ottawa in Ottawa
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
City	Ottawa
Government
- MPs	Paul Dewar
- MPPs	Yasir Naqvi
- Councillors	Diane Holmes
Area
- Total	1.25 km² (0.48 sq mi)
Elevation	75 m (250 ft)
Population (2006)
- Total	3,718
- Density	2,977.5/km² (7,745.8/sq mi)
	Canada 2006 Census
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)

Map of Downtown Ottawa (from OpenStreetMap).

Downtown Ottawa (French: Centre-Ville) is the central area of Ottawa, Canada. Like other downtowns it is the commercial and economic centre of the city. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the east, Somerset Street to the south and Bronson Avenue to the west. This area and the residential neighbourhood to the south is also known locally as 'Centretown'.

1 Prominent Buildings
2 Prominent Streets
3 Demographics
4 Map
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Prominent Buildings

Downtown Ottawa is dominated by government buildings, including the Parliament of Canada, and the Supreme Court. Most prominent buildings are situated along Wellington, Sparks and Elgin streets. Most of the buildings are office towers containing the various government departments. While most of Ottawa's high tech industry is based elsewhere it also has a significant presence in the downtown core. The downtown also contains a number of apartments, hotels, and condominiums as well as the older single family homes and townhouses along its edges.

From Wellington to Laurier, Elgin Street is the site of several landmarks, the Chateau Laurier, the National Arts Centre, Lord Elgin Hotel, Bell Canada Place, Ottawa Courts and Ottawa City Hall. Other prominent buildings include World Exchange Plaza, with the 'clock ball' on top, Place de Ville, and the heritage buildings along Sparks Street.

The towers of downtown Ottawa are not as tall as other cities, as until the 1970s, legally they could not be taller than the Peace Tower, so as not to overshadow the Parliament Buildings, similar to the restrictions in Washington, DC. Today, several buildings are taller than the Peace Tower, with the tallest being the 29-storey Place de Ville (Tower C) at 112 feet (34 m), which was built above the height limit, and several hotels being slightly shorter but with 30-35 stories.

[edit] Prominent Streets

Downtown Ottawa has a grid pattern of streets, aligned either east-west or north-south with a number of the streets being one way.

[edit] North-South Streets

From east to west, the promininent streets are Elgin Street, Metcalfe Street, O'Connor Street, Bank Street, Kent Street and Bronson Avenue.

Starting from the east:

Elgin Street, a ceremonial route for the daily Changing of the Guard and site of many prominent buildings and landmarks, and a restaurant district south of Laurier Avenue,
Metcalfe and O'Connor, both of which are busy multi-lane one way streets,
Bank runs through the heart of downtown and is a prominent retail centre,
Kent Street, another busy multi-lane one way with high traffic volumes,
Lyon, Bay and Percy, are one way local residential streets, and,
Bronson is a major avenue that forms the western edge of downtown.

[edit] East-West Streets

The northernmost east-west street that crosses downtown is Wellington Street, site of the parliamentary precinct, National Library and Archives, and Supreme Court. It is a major four-lane thoroughfare. To the east, it connects to Rideau Street, and to the west, the Ottawa River Parkway.

South of Wellington is Sparks Street, most of which is a pedestrian mall closed to vehicles. The heritage district runs from Bank to Elgin, with CBC broadcast studios at Metcalfe and Sparks.

The streets to the south are dominated by office and hotel towers: Queen Street, Albert Street, Slater Street, Laurier Avenue and Gloucester Street. Albert and Slater also carry the transitway (and possibly the proposed light rail) through downtown.

City of Ottawa zoning restricts and regulates high-rise development to locate north of Gloucester St. and affords heritage designation to some areas and buildings. The succeeding east-west streets south Gloucester: Nepean, Lisgar and Cooper are therefore mixed but still mainly residential, containing mostly medium and low-rise buildings west of Kent with more taller buildings east of Kent. Some blocks are still filled with 100 year old homes,;others have been developed with newer townhouses and condominiums and apartment buildings.

The southernmost is Somerset which is a main road. It has a restaurant district at Bank Street, and further west at Bronson, is home to the 'Somerset Heights' Asian district of restaurants.

[edit] Surrounding Areas

East of the canal, but west of King Edward Avenue, including the Rideau Centre and the Byward Market, is also normally considered downtown, and is referred to locally as 'Lowertown' or Lower Town. The residential neighbourhoods around the central business district are also generally referred to as being downtown. These include Centretown to the south and Sandy Hill and Lower Town to the east. North of the Ottawa River the centre of Gatineau, Quebec can be considered an extension of Ottawa's downtown.

[edit] Demographics

According to the Canada 2006 Census. Area defined as the part of Ottawa north of Gloucester Street, east of Bronson, south of the Ottawa River and west of the Rideau Canal.

Population: 3,718
Change (2001-2006): +2.7%
Total private dwellings: 2,875
Land area: 1.25 km².
Population density: 2,977.5 per km².

Politically, it is within the federal and provincial ridings of Ottawa Centre.

[edit] Map

A map of downtown Ottawa, also including parts of Lowertown, Sandy Hill, and downtown Hull. Click on the stars to read articles on individual buildings.