For Toronto, it’s the CN Tower. Calgary has The Bow, an impressive 58-storey office building. Montreal’s 1000 de la Gauchetière reaches the city’s height maximum at 205 metres. Tall buildings seem to be essential to Canada’s metropolitan centres.
But Ottawa – the fourth most populated metropolitan region in the country – is different from other Canadian cities. The one thing setting Ottawa apart from cities such as Toronto, Montreal or Calgary is what makes it so special – a small-town feeling with the big city convenience.
Ottawa’s architecture has always influenced this feeling. While a mix of styles, from classic to modern, allow for flexibility in the city’s style, long-standing rules governing the heights of buildings previously prohibited buildings taller than the Peace Tower, standing at 92 metres. While this ban has been lifted, it has begun to cost the city the small-town feeling that makes it unique among Canada’s population centres.
Unlike Toronto or Montreal, Ottawa’s streets are not dwarfed by multiple buildings hundreds of metres tall, allowing for a sensation of openness. Centretown, specifically, has the feeling of a close-knit community, with sunny streets. But with new, tall buildings cropping up along transit ways, this feeling will soon be gone.
The Place de Ville C tower, measuring in at 112 metres, has long been the tallest building in Ottawa. But with the introduction of Claridge Icon, a 42-storey, 128-metre condo building along the O-Train line at Carling, and an upcoming three-building development in the same neighbourhood involving 148- and 180-metre towers, Place de Ville will soon be eclipsed.
While there is something to be said for the convenience of condo living and high-rise office buildings, it takes away the caring community atmosphere Ottawa was built on.
Ottawa is the city of Parliament, the Supreme Court, the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal. It is not the home of 55-storey condos or extravagant office buildings dotting the landscape, nor should it be.
For the thousands of students from small towns coming across the country to attend one of five post-secondary institutions in Ottawa, many will find this city to be the perfect home away from home, offering a sense of closeness lacking in other major cities. By mimicking other Canadian metros, Ottawa will lose that pull.
Long-term residents have watched Ottawa grow out into suburbs and satellite communities over the decades. Watching it grow up, however, may be different – and much more difficult.
Ottawa has a growing population, and that is far from a negative for a city. With space limited – and sold at a premium – it makes sense to grow upwards. But the city should not sacrifice its character in the process.
The streets of Ottawa have long been open, sunny and inviting. By adding these massive towers, the lovely capital city of Canada will become just like every other Canadian city: impressive, surely, but dark and cold.