Document generated on 09/24/2021 11:42 p.m. Urban History Review Revue d'histoire urbaine A History of Commissions Threads of An Ottawa Planning History Ken Hillis Volume 21, Number 1, October 1992 Article abstract Early planning in Ottawa takes the form of a piece-meal architectural URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1019246ar admixture. On paper there remains a series of largely unrealized proposals DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1019246ar designed to promote an image symbolic of national identity. Successive federal and municipal agencies worked to various degrees of success to augment See table of contents Ottawa's appearance and amenity. British planner Thomas Adams' departure from, and the subsequent demise of the Federal Commission of Conservation in the early 1920's marked a low point in efforts to evolve comprehensive Publisher(s) planning strategies. The career of Noulan Cauchon, first head of the Ottawa Town Planning Commission, aimed to keep the notion of planning alive in the Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine city. Certain of his little-acknowledged proposals bear remarkable similarity to the pre-W.W. II planning efforts of MacKenzie King and Jacques Greber. ISSN Cauchon's legacy endures in proposals which appear to have been incorporated into federal planning activities during the post-war era. 0703-0428 (print) 1918-5138 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Hillis, K. (1992). A History of Commissions: Threads of An Ottawa Planning History. Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine, 21(1), 46–60. https://doi.org/10.7202/1019246ar All Rights Reserved © Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine, 1992 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ A History of Commissions: Threads of An Ottawa Planning History Ken Hillis Abstract Recent years have witnessed a re-evalua• ... it shall be my pleasure ... to make tion of the career of MacKenzie King. In the city of Ottawa the centre of the intel• Early planning in Ottawa takes the part, this has involved investigating his lectual development of this country form of a piece-meal architectural role as shaper of the physical image of and the Washington of the North.2 admixture. On paper there remains Ottawa, the national capital. While true a series of largely unrealized that King was responsible for "forcing the 1896 marked the beginning of the eco• proposals designed to promote an issue" of long-standing debate about nomic upswing following the "Great image symbolic of national identity. planning the national capital region, his Depression" of 1873-1896. In this year, Successive federal and municipal actions were not taken in a vacuum. This flush with electoral success, Laurier agencies worked to various degrees paper traces aspects of the earlier plan• repeated his Washington of the North of success to augment Ottawa's ning history of Ottawa; of other individu• remarks at a rally at Cartier Square. His appearance and amenity. British als, agencies and ideas that also planner Thomas Adams' departure speech received wide coverage, and from, and the subsequent demise of, contributed in significant measure to the Ottawa's civic elite believed that physical the Federal Commission of eventual built form of the capital. improvements befitting a capital were at Conservation in the early 1920's last at hand. To date, for example, few marked a low point in efforts to In 1884, Wilfrid Laurier had commented: principal thoroughfares had been paved. evolve comprehensive planning "I would not wish to say anything dispar• A committee was struck by City Council strategies. The career of Noulan aging of the capital, but it is hard to say to investigate the relationships of other Cauchon, first head of the Ottawa anything good of it. Ottawa is not a hand• capitals in the British Empire to their Town Planning Commission, aimed to some city and does not appear to be respective governments. It presented its keep the notion of planning alive in destined to become one either."1 By findings in the form of a petition to Laur• the city. Certain of his 1895, speaking to the Ottawa Reform ier in 1897. little-acknowledged proposals bear Association, Laurier's stance had shifted: remarkable similarity to the This report detailed the City's fiscal diffi• pre-W.W. IIplanning efforts of culty, brought on by the Crown's exemp- MacKenzie King and Jacques Greber. Cauchon's legacy endures in proposals which appear to have been incorporated into federal planning activities during the post-ivar era. Fignre 1: Looking North Along the Driveway, from Fifth Avenue From: Ottawa Improvement Commission. The Capital of Canada, Parks and Driveways, 1899-1925* 1925 (Courtesy National Archives ofCanada/C10847). A History of Commissions Résumé tion from property taxes under terms of warehouses and lumber yards. From the British North America Act. As the Maria (Laurier Av.) southward, these Les premiers efforts de planification Union and then Federal governments were acquired and razed, and construc• urbaine à Ottawa ont eu comme had continued to grow since inception in tion of a scenic "Driveway" was begun. résultat un mélange architectural 1859, the City faced a dilemma. New Concurrently, management of Rockliffe hétéroclite. On retrouve encore des government buildings such as the South• Park, lying to the City's north-east, was dossiers portant sur des ern Block (Langevin Building 1883-893) assumed from the municipality.7 propositions qui n'ont pour la removed land from private ownership plupart pas été réalisées et qui and municipal taxation. The Langevin Todd Report avaient pour but de promouvoir une being but one of a number of new federal image symbolique de l'identité nationale. L'un après Vautre, divers properties, the tax base had not kept Limitations imposed by lack of profes• organismes fédéraux et municipaux pace with demands on the municipal sional staff quickly became apparent. ont tenté, avec des résultats purse. Moreover, new development Vice-regal lobbying of J. Israel Tarte, Min• variables, d'améliorer l'aspect et meant additional municipal outlays for ister of Public Works, by Lord and Lady l'attrait d'Ottawa. Le départ du fire protection, water and sewer provis• Aberdeen to "get a plan" also may have planificateur anglais Thomas Adams ions. Although the Dominion government hastened the decision to obtain expert de la Federal Commission of had begun to pay the City for water sup• advice.8 Frederick G. Todd, noted Mon• Conservation et la mort subséquente ply in 1877, and in 1883 and 1885 had treal landscape architect, was engaged de cet organisme ont représenté, assumed maintenance costs of certain by the OIC to devise a master plan. His vers la fin des années 20, le creux de bridges and roads fronting its property,4 1903 report is the first systematic analy• la vague sur le plan de la recherche by 1897 civic authorities argued these sis of certain existing situations and de stratégies de planification contributions were inadequate. makes specific and staged recommenda• globale. Tout au long de sa carrière, tions for improvements to the Capital Noulan Cauchon, premier directeur The 1899 formation of the Ottawa g area. de la Ottawa Town Planning Improvement Commission (OIC) may be Commission, a cherché à intégrer la viewed as part of a sympathetic federal Walter Van Nus has suggested that archi• notion de planification au response to these concerns, as well as tects of the City Beautiful movement, développement de la ville. Certaines an adroit manoeuvre to avoid its total whose origins are associated with the de ses propositions, qui n'ont pas share of infrastructure costs.5 The Com• obtenu tout le crédit qu'elles 1893 Chicago World's Fair, were preoc• méritaient, offrent beaucoup de mission was authorized to acquire land cupied with three principles of urban aes• similitude avec les travaux de in the Ottawa area to create and maintain thetics: coherence, visual variety and 10 planification entrepris par parks, streets and driveways. Mandated civic grandeur. The "Todd Report" fits MacKenzie King et Jacques Greber to cooperate with the City in producing this prescription in its goal to unify the avant la Deuxième guerre mondiale. physical embellishments befitting a capi• image of Ottawa through a series of L'héritage de Cauchon nous est tal, at first the OIC was governed by four grand parkways, natural settings and parvenu grâce à des projets qui ont unpaid commissioners: three federally open urban vistas, and is one example of été intégrés aux travaux de and one municipally appointed. No pro• the City Beautiful movement's influence planification fédéraux fessional planning staff was contem• on late Victorian planning. Todd noted d'après-guerre. plated. An initial annual budget of Laurier's "Washington of the North" $60,000 was increased by increments remarks, but cautioned as to the differ• until on July 7, 1919 the amount was ences between the two capitals—the boosted to $125,000 annually for the principal one being that Washington had 6 decade to follow. proceeded from a plan. Mindful of the then paramount role of industry and its Laurier was eager that the OIC attend to siting to the Ottawa economy, Todd pro• the west bank of the Rideau Canal. This posed a park system hierarchy: Large feature afforded a first impression to Natural Parks, Suburban Parks, Boule• those arriving at the Capital, the railway vards and Parkways, Waterway Parks, yards and station occupying the Canal's City Parks, Squares and Playgrounds.