Laurier Avenue runs through the heart of Ottawa’s downtown from Bronson Avenue, all the way to Charlotte Street, where it ends just before the Rideau River.
It honours Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s seventh prime minister from 1896 until 1911.
West of the canal, Laurier Avenue was formerly called Maria Street, after the daughter of Nicholas Sparks, a father of Ottawa. East of the Rideau Canal, it was formerly known as Theodore Street, after the second son of Louis Theodore Besserer, a notary from Quebec City, who originally owned the Sandy Hill area.
Today, Laurier Avenue is a mixture of high-rises, street level businesses, government buildings and the occasional historic building, from Bronson Avenue to the canal. Among the buildings is the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, at the intersection of Metcalfe Street. At street level, there are a variety of restaurants and coffee shops.
Sitting lonesome at the intersection of Laurier and Elgin Street is the Ottawa First Baptist Church. The gothic revival style building, built in 1877, sticks out among the modern concrete buildings around it, including the Ontario Court of Justice, and the Lord Elgin Hotel. Further east on Laurier sits Ottawa’s city hall, a massive grey concrete structure infused with plate glass. On the north side of the street, across from city hall.
Across the Rideau Canal, Laurier Avenue continues over the Laurier Avenue Bridge, through the University of Ottawa campus, and into the older residential area of Sandy Hill. Laurier House, the Laurier’s home and later of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, is found at the at the intersection of Laurier and Chapel streets.