100 Wellington

Constructed in the early 1930s as one of America’s first purpose-built chanceries, the former U.S Embassy at 100 Wellington functioned as the first foreign mission in Ottawa and stood as a symbol of American presence in Canada for over five decades until its closure in 1998. While Cass Gilbert’s elegant Beaux-Arts building, occupying one of the most prominent sites in Ottawa across from Parliament Hill, has been sitting empty for nearly two decades, its architecture speaks to an important chapter in Canada’s early history. Still considered to be "one of the most perfect examples of academic Beaux-Arts Classicism to survive in the country,"¹ the building’s design and location served as a physical manifestation of the close relations between the two countries and, at the time of its construction, represented an important achievement in Ottawa’s attempts to position itself as a capital city throughout the early twentieth century. In the autumn of 2016, the Canadian Government reopened the discussion on the future use of the former U.S Embassy as part of its long-term plan to rehabilitate the Parliamentary Precinct. As this conversation continues, this paper seeks to explore how this former diplomatic structure, once a dignified symbol of American foreign presence in Ottawa, impacted Canadian national identity and served as a key milestone in Canada’s transformation from "colony to nation."<sup>2

1</sup> Sally Coutts, Christine Cameron, and C. A. Hale, Building Report 84-27: United States Embassy 100 Wellington Street, (Ottawa, Canada: Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office, 1979).
² Heritage Conservation Program and Real Property Services for Parks Canada, Conservation Guidelinesfor the Former U.S. Embassy Building, (Ottawa, Canada: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2001), 53.