February 15, 2006
Hello from Ottawa - The Lord Elgin Hotel
- A Historic Landmark in the Heart of Ottawa
As far as travel to Ottawa is concerned, you’d be hard pressed
to find a more central lodging location than the
Lord Elgin Hotel. It is located right at the Intersection of
Elgin and Laurier Streets, just steps away from Parliament Hill,
the War Memorial, the Chateau Laurier, the Government Conference
Centre and the National Arts Centre. Confederation
Park, one of the main locations for Winterlude, is located right
across the street.
We could not have found a better spot for our Ottawa
Winterlude getaway last weekend. My room on the 4th floor was
very comfortable and I had a perfect view out over Elgin Street,
looking at the Chateau Laurier and the War Memorial on one side,
and facing Confederation Park and the Rideau Canal on the other.
We literally left our car parked for the whole 2 days and were able
to get everywhere we wanted on foot.
The Lord Elgin Hotel - Chateau-style elegance in the heart of Ottawa
The Lord Elgin was a perfect starting point for our adventures
on the Rideau Canal, and
our excursions to the ByWard Market
and Sparks Street. Further
south on Elgin Street is another major entertainment area nestled
inside an established neighbourhood with exclusive homes and condominiums.
Ann Meelker from the Lord Elgin Hotel was kind enough to give me
a lay of the land and pointed out the local landmarks. She also
explained to me that the National Conference Centre actually used
to be a railroad station many years ago, when train tracks were
routed right next to the Rideau Canal.
My big interest in this hotel was its history as it was constructed
more than 60 years ago. So I did some reserach to dig into the background
of this historic building.
Nice view from my hotel room towards the War Memorial and the Chateau
Laurier
In 1940, as the Second World War brought more and more official
visitors into town, Ottawa found itself desperately short of hotel
accommodation. A local entrepreneur and city alderman by the name
of Chester Pickering, President of Dustbane, Modern Building Cleaning,
and Michael’s Industrial Equipment, was entrusted with the
job of bringing a good hotel to the City. He connected with Jack
Udd, a wealthy businessman from Rochester, New York, the president
of the Ford Hotel Chain.
They were looking for a suitable site for the hotel and finally
found one in an abandoned lot at the corner of Elgin and Laurier.
However, obtaining the land was complicated by the fact that it
was owned by the federal government.
Elgin Street, looking north towards the Parliament Buildings
It seemed highly unlikely that this land could be obtained from
the government, but through personal connections and various outright
shenanigans Chester Pickering was able to get the property. Chester
Pickering knew that then Prime Minister Mackenzie King longed to
make Ottawa the most attractive capital in the world, so he was
sure that the idea of cleaning up this run-down area would appeal
to the Prime Minister.
And not only did Pickering get the land, he also got a low-cost
tax assessment on it, in light of the fact that government had not
been receiving any taxes on this federally owned property at all
before. With all the conditions met, Jack Udd started building the
hotel and Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King even laid the
cornerstone. The Lord Elgin was completed in 1941 in a classical
French chateau style at a cost of about C$1,500,000.
2 minutes away: The Human Rights Monument: "All Human Beings
Are Born Free And Equal In Dignity And Rights"
All throughout Prime Minister Mackenzie King took a strong interest
in the hotel and virtually designed the pillars in front of the
hotel himself. He also insisted that the hotel be built of stone,
not brick. Jack Udd agreed on a compromise and used stone at both
ends and in the front, but he would put brick in the back.
The hotel is named after James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th
Earl of Kincardine (1811 to 1863) who became Governor General of
Canada in 1847. He became the first Governor General to remove himself
from the affairs of the legislature, which led to the essentially
symbolic role that the Governor-General of Canada has today.
Bust of Lord Elgin
Ann also allowed me to have a look at some correspondence between
Prime Minister Mackenzie King and the grandson of the original Lord
Elgin, who donated two marble busts of his grandparents, Lord and
Lady Elgin. The correspondence dates back to 1940 and talks about
shipping the busts on warships during World War II from Scotland
to Canada.
Ann also mentioned that during the summer a portion of the Changing
of the Guards ceremony can be seen directly outside the hotel. And
the starting line for the Ottawa International Marathon is located
immediately in front of the Lord Elgin Hotel.
Bust of Lady Elgin
Being the nosy person that I am I wanted to get the real low-down
on this property and Randy Battcock, Guest Services Manager at the
Lord Elgin, agreed to take me on a tour through the property. Randy
is an interesting individual himself, he hails from Newfoundland
and worked for a local airline for 21 years. After running a guest
house in Ottawa for 8 years he applied for the Guest Manager’s
position and got the job the next day. It is obvious that Randy
loves what he does.
During our tour through the building, Randy explained that the
original building was H-shaped and that the back was filled in many
years ago to enlarge the rooms. In some of the boardrooms on the
higher levels you can still see the former street façade
on the west side, now forming an inside wall.
A few steps down the street: the former Teachers College, now part
of City Hall
Two 8-storey towers were added on the north and south side and
they added 55 additional bedrooms, an inground pool and a restaurant.
Another little known fact is that there is a 3 bedroom apartment
on the 12th floor which to this day is the residence of the former
manager of the hotel who spent 50 years managing the hotel and raised
his children there. The apartment has the only patio in the building
with a perfect view east towards the Rideau Canal.
Randy also enlightened me that of the four guest elevators, two
are original and date all the way back to 1941. The fourth elevator
used to be a smokestack for the furnace in the basement, but it
was dismantled bit by bit to allow for the construction of an additional
elevator. The building still has an original functioning mail chute
where you can drop your letters from any floor and gravity will
take them to the mailroom from where they will be sent out.
The historic mail chute from 1941
Although the Lord Elgin Hotel is one of the most renowned and venerable
institutions in Ottawa, it has a cozy feel to it. During my stay
it was hosting hundreds of people who were attending Winterlude,
so you saw all these families with children dressed up in heavy
winter garb walking through the hallways. I had several friendly
chats with staff members, and in particular with one young bellman
who was part of the Lord Elgin team in the 26th
Annual Bedzz Race on Dow Lake.
The spot in front of the fireplace in the lobby was always taken
by people relaxing, reading a paper, or conversing while warming
up after a cold day. We noticed that the atmosphere was always relaxed
and down-to-earth, never snobbish, as you might expect of a hotel
of this stature. For us it was the perfect location for a weekend
of exploration in Canada’s capital.
Historic Elgin Street architecture
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Related Articles:
Hello from Ottawa
- My 2-day packed itinerary for Winterlude
Hello from Ottawa - First
impressions and an overview
Hello from Ottawa - The Lord Elgin
Hotel: a historic landmark in the heart of Ottawa
Hello from Ottawa - Fat Tuesday's
and the Mardi Gras Experience in the ByWard Market
Hello from Ottawa - An early
morning walk to Parliament Hill
Hello from Ottawa - Skating
on the Rideau Canal, the World's Largest Skating Rink
Hello from Ottawa - Charity and
hilarity: the 26th Annual Bedzz Races on Dow's Lake
Hello from Ottawa - Confederation
Park and other Winterlude locations
Hello from Ottawa - Darcy McGee's:
a historic Irish pub on Sparks Street
Hello from Ottawa - The Canadian
War Museum and "Weapons of Mass Dissemination - The Propaganda
of War"
Hello from Ottawa - The
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography featuring Sunil Gupta
and the challenges of immigration
An interview with Tourism Ottawa
provides a great overview of this city
An interview about
the ByWard Market, a prime entertainment and shopping area
An interview
with the National Gallery of Canada
An interview
with the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Helpful websites:
Ottawa
Tourism: Ottawa's official tourism information
The ByWard
Market Business Improvement Area
The
National Capital Commission
The National
Museum of Civilization
The National Gallery
of Canada
The Canadian War
Museum
Useful books about Ottawa:
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