Photos of National Arts Centre's Original Exterior facing Elgin Street

UO-LC-NAC-Elgin-OriginalEntrance-1992.jpg
UO-LC-NAC-Elgin-OriginalEntrance-1995.jpg

Dublin Core

Title

Photos of National Arts Centre's Original Exterior facing Elgin Street

Subject

renovation; Centre national des arts; National Arts Centre; rue Elgin; Elgin Street

Description

When the National Arts Centre was originally in its design stages, the Diefenbaker government had proposed a large museum to be built on the land adjacent to the south. Hamilton Southam and his team imagined that the Confederation Square site on which the building sits had the potential to become a cultural hub for the nation's capital city. The NAC was thus designed to face the historic Rideau Canal and a massive man-made lagoon.

Diefenbaker's museum project never came to fruition, as it was cancelled by the new Liberal government under Pierre Elliott Trudeau. The land where it was to be built sits empty to this day. "The effect of the [building's] orientation was to essentially cut the NAC off from Confederation Square, one of the most important public places in the capital and country."

Peter Robb, "NAC faces front with new entrance on Confederation Square: Feds invest $110 M," The Ottawa Citizen, 11 December 2014. Retrieved from https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-arts/nac-expected-to-get-a-new-look/.

Source

National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Item catalogued by Dr. Jada Watson, University of Ottawa.

Date

1992
1995

Rights

Copyright © National Arts Centre. Used with permission.

Identifier

UO-LC-NAC-Elgin-OriginalEntrance-1992
UO-LC-NAC-Elgin-OriginalEntrance-1995

Coverage

Created in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Citation

“Photos of National Arts Centre's Original Exterior facing Elgin Street,” Linking Culture(s), accessed December 22, 2024, http://omeka.uottawa.ca/linking-cultures/items/show/225.

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