Confederation Building (Ottawa)

The Confederation Building is a gothic revival office building designed by Richard Cotsman Wright and Thomas W. Fuller in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Located just west of the Parliament Buildings at Bank and Wellington Streets, it is generally considered part of Parliament Hill.

Front door
215 Wellington Street
Confederation Building

Originally, the land where the Confederation Building and the Supreme Court of Canada now stand contained homes and businesses. These were expropriated by the government to allow for the construction of new federal buildings.

Work on the Confederation Building began when the cornerstone was laid by the Governor General Lord Willingdon on July 1, 1927 as part of the celebrations of Canada's Diamond Jubilee[1] and it opened during 1931.

It originally housed workers in a number of departments, with the Department of Agriculture being the largest tenant. Today it is home both to civil servants and to a number of MPs and ministers. Many Conservative, Liberal and NDP MPs have their offices there along with some junior cabinet members.

As part of the ongoing work on Parliament Hill there are currently discussions to fill the space between the Confederation Building and the smaller Justice Building to create more office space. This has been contested by some, however, due to a government daycare that is open to hill staff that is already there.

Work began in 2008 to clean and refurbish the building's masonry.

References
  1. Midcentury Modernist. "Lions and Boy Scouts and Bears - the Confederation Building's Hidden Mascots". Urbsite. Retrieved December 26, 2018.


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