Joe Goski explores a hallway in the Dominican University College.
Doors Open Ontario is coming to Ottawa this weekend, and all over the city the owners of more than 120 unique, functional, and historical buildings will be letting the public step inside to take a look around.
More than two dozen are opening in the downtown core alone, from enormous structures such as the Supreme Court of Canada on Wellington Street to the 19th-century heritage home Andrex House at 190 Bronson Ave. With so much to see, Centretown News is highlighting five buildings on the Doors Open list to pique the interest of potential visitors:
1. Dominican University College
96 Empress Ave.
Located just west of Bronson Avenue and north of Somerset Street, the Dominican University College has been home to Dominican friars for more than 120 years. After the original chapel burned down in 1931, the east wing, completed in 1897, became the oldest part of the building.
The structure’s interior is defined by vaulted white ceilings and an almost silent garden courtyard. In fact, the college’s downtown location is so quiet that, according to college communications officer Joe Goski, the CBC records classical music in its chapel.
Visitors this weekend will be able to look around the main floor, courtyard and chapel area, as well as the five-storey library. There will also be guided tours leaving roughly every 15 minutes. Highlights include the library’s stained glass windows and the Wilson Room, which holds the college’s oldest books, some written more than 500 years ago.
2. Bridgehead Roastery
130 Anderson St.
When you step into the Bridgehead Roastery on Chinatown’s western edge, the first thing you expect to notice is the smell. But what really hits you is the size of the place.
Constructed in 1921 and originally a carriage stable, the roastery looks like a normal Bridgehead coffee shop that’s been swallowed by a factory. It has the chain’s standard red-brick walls and glass displays filled with quinoa salads and cookies, but on the other side of the open room sits the enormous roaster, which turns the coffee beans from their “green” unprocessed state into the ones baristas grind into coffee.
The roastery supplies the beans for all of Ottawa’s 15 Bridgehead locations; much of the main floor will be open to visitors.
3. Commissariat Building
1 Canal Lane
Hardly a “hidden gem” but brilliant nonetheless, the Commissariat Building is the oldest stone structure in Ottawa.
Nestled between Parliament Hill, the Chateau Laurier and the Ottawa River, the Commissariat was built in 1826 to hold supplies for the Rideau Canal’s construction.
Now the site of the Bytown Museum, the three-storey building is filled with artifacts such as the “death hand” cast of assassinated Father of Confederation Thomas D’Arcy McGee and three dimensional maps tracing Ottawa’s development.
For Doors Open, museum admission is free and staff members are hosting “behind the scenes” tours, showcasing areas of the building that are normally off-limits to the public. On Saturday, visitors will have the chance to see two barbershop quartets. Performances begin at 2:30 p.m.
4. Heritage Building and Ottawa City Hall
110 Laurier Ave. West
Built as a teacher’s college in 1875, City Hall’s Heritage Building is now home to the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame and a number of important city offices, including Mayor Jim Watson’s.
After its construction, the structure remained a teacher’s college until 1974, just shy of the century mark. The structure doesn’t follow any one architectural tradition; its windows are Gothic, its columns are Romanesque, and its roof is in the Second Empire style.
Watson himself will be hosting a coffee and tea sit-down on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.
5. Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
7 Delaware Ave.
Sitting within sight of the Rideau Canal, Armenia’s headquarters in Ottawa has spent half of its history housing embassies, and the other half serving as a mansion for some of the city’s wealthiest men.
It was built in 1908 in the Spanish Colonial Style and then remodeled in 1922 by the renowned Ottawa architect W. E. Noffke, who also built the Central Post Office on Sparks Street. It was Noffke who gave the building its distinctive creamy colour.
7 Delaware was donated to the Republic of Armenia in 1995. In 2002 the “Immortal Armenia” sculpture was added to the front lawn, paying tribute to those killed in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
Like other buildings opening their doors this weekend, the embassy will be welcoming walk-ins from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Curious about other Doors Open sites? See the full list here .