Supplemental Posts

Monday, January 21, 2019

Veterans Memorial Buildings

The Veterans Memorial Buildings occupy most of the two city blocks surrounded by Bay Street, Wellington Street, Kent Street and Sparks Street. An walkway over Lyon Street North joins them together. The buildings incorporate The Canadian Phalanx, dealt with in an earlier post on this blog site.


In 1937 Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King (1874-1950) first engaged the services of urban planner and architect Jacques-Henri-Auguste Gréber (1882–1962) to determine the location of the commemorative monument for the Great War, now known as World War One and the resulting monument now known as the National War Memorial commemorating all wars in which Canada has been involved. In 1938 MacKenzie King mandated Gréber to develop a plan for Ottawa. Disrupted by World War Two, King again contacted Gréber in 1945 and engaged him to create the plan. In 1950 Gréber produced a plan for Ottawa, available in PDF format on the Past Ottawa web site. That plan has been largely implemented.


The construction of the East and West Memorial Buildings that are the federal government's prinicpal memorial to those killed during World War Two comprised an early implementation of the Gréber plan. The architectural firm of Allward and Gouinlock (Hugh Lachlan Allward (1899-1971) and George Roper Gouinlock (1896-1979)) designed the two buildings as a single entity, now known as the East and West Memorial Buildings. The East Memorial Building was constructed from January 1, 1950 to January 1, 1954. The Government of Canada recognized it as a Federal Heritage Building on February 27, 1995. The West Memorial Building's construction took place from January 1, 1954 to January 1, 1958, and was recognized as a Federal Heritage Building on June 6, 1992.


















ALL THESE WERE HONOURED
IN THEIR GENERATIONS AND
WERE THE GLORY OF THEIR TIMES

ECCLESIASTICUS 44.7.


TOUS CES HOMMES FURENT HONORÉS
PAR LEURS CONTEMPORAINS TOUS
ONT ÉTÉ LA GLOIRE DE LEUR TEMPS

L'ECCLESIASTIQUE 44.7.















Department of
Justice Canada
Headquarters


Ministère de la
Justice Canada
Administration centrale
















ALL THESE WERE HONOURED
IN THEIR GENERATIONS AND
WERE THE GLORY OF THEIR TIMES

ECCLESIASTICUS 44.7.


VETERANS MEMORIAL BUILDINGS
1939 - 1945
ÉDIFICE COMMÉMORATIFS
DES ANCIENS COMBATTANTS

TOUS CES HOMMES FURENT HONORÉS
PAR LEURS CONTEMPORAINS TOUS
ONT ÉTÉ LA GLOIRE DE LEUR TEMPS

L'ECCLÉSIASTIQUE 44.7.






THIS STONE
WAS LAID BY
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
C.D. HOWE
MINISTER OF TRADE & COMMERCE
& DEFENCE PRODUCTION
OCTOBER 19, 1995

CETTE PIERRE
A ÉTÉ POSÉE PAR
LE TRÈS HONORABLE
C.D. HOWE
MINISTRE DU COMMERCE ET
DE LA PRODUCTION DE DÉFENSE
LE 19 OCTOBRE 1955