Wellington Building

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The Wellington Building at 180 Wellington Street, as seen from the corner of Bank and Sparks
The Wellington Building at 180 Wellington Street, as seen from the corner of Bank and Sparks
For Welington buildings see buildings and structures in Wellington

The Wellington Building is a Roman Corinthian Revival Style office building in Ottawa, Canada. It was built between 1924 and 1927 as Canadian headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The original structure was designed by D. Everett Waid, in 1961 the more restrained east wing of the building was added.

It is located just south of the Parliament buildings at the intersection of Wellington Street and Bank Street with the southern face on Sparks Street. It remained the home of Metlife until 1970 when the company moved to a new building to the south. It was bought by the federal government, and used as offices and for a time the home of the Canadian Postal Museum. In 1984 a shortage of office space for the MPs' resulted in some of them being moved to the building. This was the first time MPs had been housed outside of Parliament Hill.

The building currently houses the administration of the House of Commons (Human Resources, Finance). There are no longer MPs offices since the opening of the Justice Building across Wellington Street. The Wellington Building is scheduled to be completely renovated due to its age and an asbestos problem.

[edit] References

  • Exploring Ottawa: an architectural guide to the nation's capital. Harold Kalman and John Roaf. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983.
  • Ottawa: a guide to heritage structures City of Ottawa, Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee; managing editor, Lucy Corbin. 2001