Downtown’s changing skyline

Ottawa has a curious bunch of downtown buildings dating from the Robert Campeau era (1960’s and 70’s). They all share a certain formula: towers “inspired” by famous buildings elsewhere, usually built on massive ugly windowless podiums, and with no apparent front doors.

Consider the Centennial Towers, whose entrance used to be facing a drive through arch, mercifully removed during its last renovation. Or the Marriott hotel, also sitting on a rough concrete windowless podium, its entrance facing a mid-block driveway well concealed from motorists and pedestrians alike. Or the black cube Place de Ville office towers, some of which still have their entrances facing windswept desolate plazas rather than the public sidewalk. The worst of all was the old Skyline Hotel, alias the Crowne Plaza, and now the Delta Downtown.

The building itself was inspired by the Pan Am building (now Met Life building) in NYC:

Pan Am, now known as the Met Life building, in NYC

The Skyline is characterized by its windowless façade at sidewalk level, largely windowless podium, and the front door elevated about eight feet above the sidewalk at the top of a drive-through ramp that wrecks havoc on the traffic flow of adjacent intersections (taxis frequently use the ramp as a contra flow lane to beat the one way Lyon Street).

pan am shape on an ugly podium and un-urban(e) ramp
dysfunctional eyesore ramp. A pedestrian entrance beneath it forces pedestrians to duck to enter. Mind, averting one's eyes is advisable for your own safety
sidewalk level, Albert Street side; the planters were an improvement installed about a decade ago

But, enough about the building’s abundant and evident problems. The new owners, the Delta Hotel chain, plan some major renovations to fix what they can. Soon, the front ramp will be gone. Significant new entrances will appear at the ground level on Albert Street and Lyon Street.

new Albert Street side entrance. There appears to be windows ... and more shrubs, and a recognizable entrance.

The lobby is currently a confusing multi-level mess. The sidewalk level lobby is basically useless, featuring two non-functioning fountains, a tuck shop, and corridors to elsewhere. It feels lonely and bleak.

The main lobby is up a short, awkward flight of stairs from the car ramp. There is a bar, and reception, and large light well into the unloved lower lobby. Seldom noticed is that it is open to the third floor, as a lifeless “atrium”.

The new Delta will have a three storey open atrium lobby. Everyone arrives at the front sidewalk level and proceeds from there.

the future, courtesy of Photoshop, shows it will still be auto-centric. There is a bike parking spot on the sidewalk ... no! is that a crazy pinko left wing cyclist riding on the sidewalk? Isn't that pedestrian jay-walking?

Inside the lobby:

Delta is known for quality hotels. I hope this renovation will result in a better building that relates to the pedestrian environment in downtown Ottawa.

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Note1: look up the Albert and Slater sides of the hotel … a notice a door to nowhere about fourteen floors up. It used to access the inside of a corporate logo sign, to change the lightbulbs without a crane. Don’t sleepwalk on that floor!

Note2: the worst remaining building of the Campeau no-front-door era is the NAC, which was designed for limousines to deliver fur-clad celebrities and politicos to the front door that is as far from the street and sidewalk as possible; while simultaneously being on the canal side but rending it impossible to actually see the canal from arriving car or the lobby. Alas, too many of our national buildings still hog riverside sites whilst simultaneously ignoring them (Nat’l Gallery, War Museum…). The functionaires’ offices though, have marvellous views.

Note3: one possible excuse for the lack of sidewalk amenity for its first forty years was the underground mall linking the various buildings. Arrive by taxi, shop and visit in the underground city. Some dreams don’t change. Remember the Blind Pig? Or any of the other bars and shops long gone? The still-future subway station?

Note4: do I see a certain similarity between these 60’s buildings and a certain inspired-by-Chicago  condo proposed for Preston Street which is to sit … wait for it … on a seven storey black concrete block? Wave our hands in excitement now …

12 thoughts on “Downtown’s changing skyline

  1. One thing that I hope doesn’t change: access to the top floor. A friend dragged me in one hot summer’s day, and we rode the elevators up to the top floor. It’s a large “party room” that is rented, I presume, for wedding receptions and business functions. But during the middle of the day it was completely abandoned, and completely open to anyone. It has *great* views of the city, especially to the west. Since then I have dragged all visiting friends and family to this hotel for a breath-taking view.

  2. The Crowne Plaza is well known to me and many others as the only nesting site in Ottawa of the Peregrine Falcon. With the Ministry of Natural Resources, we started the Ottawa Falcon Watch (http://www.ofnc.ca/falconwatch/activityreports.php) in 1997 recovering young peregrines from the “unfriendly” streets below and returning them to the nest. The owners and managers of the Crowne (once Citadel) have always been very co-operative and friendly. They will do their utmost to keep construction disturbances from bothering our nesting pair. And Greencolander is right. The view from the penthouse is stunning.

  3. that “newest addition to our family” poster* is amazing for something to come out of a marketing department. They even got the mismatched asphalt, worn parking spot lines and disconnected lane marking lines right!

    *the one with the red sports car out front – 5th photo down.

  4. There’s nothing wrong with the NAC that several truckloads of dynamite and a large wrecking crew couldn’t fix.

    Then we could rebuild it beside the war museum, with a glass wall overloooking the river providing the atrium for show-goers (sharing parking with the museum where possible).

    That would free up that vista along the Canal for something – anything would be an improvement, even just the smouldering debris from the demolished NAC.

  5. There’s nothing wrong with the NAC that several truckloads of dynamite and a large wrecking crew couldn’t fix.

    Then we could rebuild it beside the war museum, with a glass wall overloooking the river providing the atrium for show-goers (sharing parking with the museum where possible).

    That would free up that vista along the Canal for something – anything would be an improvement, even just the smouldering debris from the demolished NAC.

  6. I like what Delta has in mind. It might not be perfect, but it seems like a big improvement over the present situation.

  7. I have never heard of this underground mall concept. Could you expand on this? Was/Is this something that actually happened?

    1. Dfg, it is under the Place de Ville complex. You can enter in off Albert Street or Queen Street by any of the PDV towers… and down an escalotor. There are some shops and a take-out restaurants and a few odds and ends down below. You can cross Queen or Albert underground. It was built with an underground subway stop in mind. It may become rejuvenated if we ever do get that tunnel. Not quite Montreal’s underground city though.

  8. 2 Delta’s in 3 blocks?
    What is happening to the old Delta between Queen and Sparks?
    I went on a work trip once to Montreal. There are 2 Delta’s in the downtown, with completely un-helpful names (something like Delta Downtown and Delta Montreal) that are about 2 km apart from each other. Of course I booked in at the wrong one… That was highly annoying , and I am sure I was not the only one, and I imagine this will happen frequently here in Ottawa.

  9. There is nothing wrong with the NAC that a few hundred pounds of well-placed dynamite, and a charity lottery for the honour of pushing the button, couldn’t fix.

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