East and West Memorial Buildings

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The East Memorial Building and West Memorial Building are a pair of government buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Construction started in 1949 to house the rapidly growing Department of Veterans Affairs. The buildings were thus originally named the Veterans Memorial Buildings. They were designed by George Gouinlock and H.L. Allward.

The buildings are located on the south side of Wellington Street, across the street from the Supreme Court of Canada Building. Lyon Street passes between the two buildings, but they are linked by the Memorial Arch. Between the two lanes of Lyon Street are gardens and a large stone relief carved by Ivan Mestvovic to honour those who fought in the First World War.

As the Veterans Affairs department has shrunk other departments have moved in. Today the Department of Justice is headquartered in the East Building. Currently, West memorial houses National Defence.

Some offices for the National Archives were also located in those buildings.

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