Cartier Square Drill Hall

The building most popularly known as The Cartier Square Drill Hall, or just the Drill Hall, is also known as the Cartier Square Armoury. It occupies a place, in Ottawa, east of Ottawa City Hall on the west side of Queen Elizabeth Drive, south of where Laurier Avenue passes over the driveway.

National Defence
Cartier Square Armoury

Défense nationale
Manège militaire Place Cartier

Thomas Seaton Scott, first Chief Architect of the Dominion of Canada, designed the armoury to house elements of the 43rd “Ottawa and Carleton” Battalion of Rifles, which was later renamed The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, and The Governor General’s Foot Guards.

The stained glass window depicts Canada's escutcheon, part
of the Nation's coat of arms. On the outside this appears in
reverse and lacks the spectacular colouring seen from inside.

The vehicle in front of the Drill Hall is a Universal Carrier Mk I, serial number that was renovated by the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa Foundation. The Universal Carrier, popularly referred to as a Bren Gun Carrier, due to the main armament of its earliest versions, is a small, lightly armoured, open-topped, fully-tracked vehicle used by the Canadian Army primarily in the Second World War. Design of the vehicle started in the 1920s envisioned as tractors for towing field guns and as mobile mounts for machine guns. Canada manufactured the various marks of this vehicle during the war, ultimately producing 28,992 of them.

Badge for the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa to the right of the hall's main door.

Badge for the Governor General's Foot Guards to the left of the hall's main door.

The Government of Canada recognized the Cartier Square Drill Hall, built in 1879, as a Federal Heritage Building on April 23, 1985.

The statue commemorates William. B. Osgoode and John Rogers.
It is covered in another post in this blog site.