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 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.
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.
Famous quotes containing the words wellington and/or building:
“When Wellington thrashed Bonaparte,
As every child can tell,
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well:”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“The artist must be an egotist because, like the spider, he draws all his building material from his own breast. But just the same the artist alone among men knows what true humility means. His reach forever exceeds his grasp. He can never be satisfied with his work. He knows when he has done well, but he knows he has never attained his dream. He knows he never can.”
—Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)