Description of Historic Place

The Wellington Building is a six-storey office block, prominently located on the south side of Wellington Street facing Parliament Hill. The original 1927 building has three principal facades, on Wellington, Bank and Sparks, all in a monumental colonnaded Beaux-Arts style. Two upper storeys and a side extension were added in the late 1950s, in a more austere classical vocabulary.

Heritage Value

The Wellington Building is a “Recognized” Federal Heritage Building in part because of its historical associations, but primarily because of its architectural and environmental value.

Historical value:
Originally built as the Canadian headquarters for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the largest American firm of its kind in the early 20th Century, the Wellington Building testifies to the prominent role of the company in the development of the life insurance industry in Canada. The building’s construction also coincides with the emergence of Ottawa as a regional commercial centre during this period. Initially associated with other prestigious financial institutions along Sparks and Wellington Streets, the building was taken over by the federal government in the 1970s and is now associated with the House of Commons.

Architectural value:
Designed by the noted American architect D. Everett Waid, in collaboration with his Ottawa counterpart, J.A. Ewart, the 1927 building is a sophisticated example of Beaux-Arts design, a style strongly favored by American institutions at the time. The Beaux-Arts style is expressed here in both the monumental symmetrical composition of the exterior facades and in the axial arrangement of its ground floor public spaces. These public spaces, including a celebrated entrance mural, display a high quality of workmanship and materials. At the time of its construction, the building was an example of advanced thinking with regards to efficient office planning for clerical work areas and a concern for health in the workplace. Later layers from the 1950s, in a more austere and less successful classical modernist style, reflect the company’s success and growth.

Environmental value:
Prominently located at the intersection of Bank and Wellington Streets, the Wellington Building strongly contributes to the formality, prestige and monumentality of the building line facing Parliament Hill and to its predominantly classical design, which counterbalances the neo-gothic character of the Parliament buildings. On the opposite Sparks Street elevation, smaller scale retail spaces remain an integral part of the street’s vitality. Because of its monumental design, scale and location, the building is a familiar landmark within the city.

Sources:
Dana Johnston, Metropolitan Life Assurance Building/Wellington Building, Federal Heritage Building Review Office Historic Report, 85-031; Wellington Building, Ottawa, Ontario. Heritage Character Statement, 85-031.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Wellington Building should be respected.

The quality of its Beaux Arts design, as displayed in: the formalism, monumental scale and sculptural richness of the main, side and rear elevations of the 1927 building, including their symmetrical and balanced proportions and clear three-part composition - a strong base storey with round-headed openings, a grand three-storey centre portion marked by Corinthian colonnades and pilasters, and a substantial cornice and parapet; the axial sequence of public circulation spaces on the ground floor, emphasized by the rich decorative scheme.

The building’s good functional design and corresponding quality of materials and craftsmanship, as manifested in: the open concept floor plan with centrally located service and vertical transport cores; the use of quality finish materials on the exterior, including the smooth Indiana limestone cladding with granite base and the bronze grilles and spandrel panels; the use of noble finishes in the primary interior public spaces, including the remarkable vestibule mosaic, the marble walls and detailing, and the bronze fittings (wall sconces, doors, grilles); the compatible finishes of the service and vertical transport cores, including the slate treads, bronze handrails, and marble washroom partitions; certain elements of the added layers of the 1950s, including black marble and stainless steel decorative highlights.

The manner in which the building contributes to the prestigious institutional character of the area, and helps define the transition from the Parliamentary and institutional character of Wellington to the more civic and commercial character of Sparks: the building’s formality and monumental scale, which anchor the intersection of Wellington and Bank; the presence of retail along Sparks Street, contributing to the vitality of that corridor and yet compatible with the primary function of the building as office space.

Heritage Character Statement

Disclaimer - The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.

The Wellington Building (formerly the Metropolitan Life Assurance Building) was built in 1925-27 to designs by D. Everett Waid, architect, of New York; J.A. Ewart, Ottawa, associated architect. In 1957-58 two storeys were added to the original building, and in 1958-59 a six storey wing was added to the east, both to designs by Marani and Morris, architects, Toronto. Public Works Canada is the custodian of the building. See FHBRO Building Report 85-31.

Reason for Designation

In January, 1987, the building was designated Recognized because of its sophisticated Beaux Arts design and its environmental importance. It is valuable both for its strong contribution to the formality of Wellington Street opposite Parliament, and for the sensitivity to the modest commercial proportions of Sparks Street visible in its "back" façade. Historically, the building there of the Canadian headquarters of a large American firm coincides with the emergence of Ottawa as a regional commercial centre. The building was a deliberate example of advanced thinking concerning efficient office planning for clerical "factories" and a concern for health in the workplace.

Character Defining Elements

The heritage character of the Wellington Building resides in the whole of its three exposed façades and the original entry sequence and lobby.

The building is a typical Beaux Arts composition with an exposed basement, in granite, with round-headed openings, supporting a giant Corinthian order on the Wellington Street façade, reduced to pilasters on other façades, and bracketed by substantial end bays in smooth limestone with punched windows. The building is entered through three round-headed doors centred on the Wellington façade. This entry was originally announced by a substantial canopy which afforded shelter to pedestrians on Wellington Street. This is a complete, essentially self-contained composition. This containment, expressed for instance in the proportion of wall to window opening, is essential to the heritage character of the building. The present glazing is a simplified and diminished memory of the original, but the subdivision of the windows remains important to the visual effect of the design.

The attic storeys and east wing built in the 1950s are sensitive and unobtrusive designs in a very late Classical mode, and should be respected in their own right. Beaux Arts axial planning principles are evident in the sequence of entry spaces -- from vestibule through the arcade to the large central lobby. The general volumes of this original circulation spine remain, although secondary circulation on a cross-axis has been added to serve the new wing. Evidence of these principles are essential to the heritage character of the building and should be retained. These interior spaces received careful embellishment appropriate to the status and solidity of the previous owner, Metropolitan Life. The original surface treatments in the arcade and lobby have been altered and simplified. These spaces contain in allegorical mosaic panels an overt symbolic expression of the company's self-image. The mosaics and other surviving decorative treatments remain as the defining feature of this interior and should be retained.

Outside of the central entry/circulation spine, on the ground and other floors, large, minimally ornamented space were loosely disposed and filled with rigid rows of desks -- an early version of open office landscape. These areas could be managed with some flexibility providing principle patterns of circulation are respected.