Wellington Building
The Wellington Building is a Beaux-Arts architecture 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 1959, the more restrained classical east wing of the building was added.
The Building is located just south of the Parliament buildings at the intersection of Wellington Street and Bank Street with its southern face on Sparks Street. It remained the home of Met Life 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.
2010-2016 Rehabilitation
In 2010, the building was closed for extensive rehabilitation work, which included asbestos abatement, seismic reinforcement, and the modernization of its interior spaces and systems to accommodate MP Offices, committee rooms and a library. Work also included the conservation and restoration of its significant heritage features, such as the valuable Byzantine-style mosaic in its vestibule, and the long-lost decorative cast iron canopy on Wellington Street. Work is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2016.
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
- http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawas-landmark-wellington-building-restored-to-1927-glory
Coordinates: 45°25′18″N 75°42′03″W / 45.421725°N 75.700951°W