Architecture of Ottawa - Commercial and Industrial Architecture

Commercial and Industrial Architecture

While the economy is dominated by the federal government, and service industries that support government workers, Ottawa has had several other important industries. Before becoming the capital, Bytown was a centre of the logging industry. The lumber industry remained prominent in Ottawa until the early twentieth century. The lasting legacy in Ottawa are the mansions and buildings constructed by the lumber barons who made up much of the economic elite of early Ottawa. Most notable was John Rudolphus Booth, who commissioned several prominent structures from architect John W.H. Watts. While the lumber and pulp mills disappeared from Ottawa in the early twentieth century, Hull across the river remained an important industrial centre and its waterfront was largely industrialized. Most of those factories have now disappeared, but a few remain. Including the E. B. Eddy Company plant directly across from the Parliament Buildings. Ottawa itself does today have some industrial areas, mostly clustered around the rail lines in the Cyrville and Tanglewood areas south of the core. There is virtually no heavy industry, and most of the industrial buildings are warehouses serving as transshipment points for goods made elsewhere.

In recent years it has been the hi tech sector that has risen to prominence in Ottawa. Especially during the boom years of the 1990s Ottawa was often touted as "Silicon Valley North", home to such firms as Nortel, Corel, JDS Uniphase, and Cognos. This technology sector is almost wholly based in the western part of the city, especially around Kanata. Both Nortel and JDS Uniphase opted to build large compounds on the fringe of the city, while Corel has a series of towers by the Queensway. While the downturn severely hurt this industry, it has recovered in recent years with many smaller firms occupying office space in the west end.

Surviving commercial buildings from early Ottawa can be seen in some parts of downtown, most notably the heritage area along Sussex Drive and the Sparks Street pedestrian mall. These tend to be low stone structures densely clustered together. The vast majority of Ottawa's commercial buildings are similar to those that would be found anywhere in North America. Downtown Ottawa has several commercial streets, the most important being Bank Street the lower levels of many office towers also contain shopping areas. One distinctive area is the Byward Market, home to dozens of small shops and restaurants. The city has several shopping centres, the most central and prominent being the Rideau Centre. The older suburbs each have central shopping malls, such as Billings Bridge Plaza, Bayshore Shopping Centre, Carlingwood Mall. In recent years the newest suburbs have been home to large collections of big-box stores rather than traditional malls, with sprawling such complexes in Kanata, Barrhaven, and South Keys.