HomeParliament Hill
The Parliament Buildings are a group of neo-Gothic buildings on a site that is truly unique in the Canadian context. Since 1867, this has been the seat of Canadian government. For nearly a century and a half, history has been made on this dramatic promontory overlooking the Ottawa River. The buildings are intimately related to their unique setting, and Parliament Hill has long been the site of celebrations and demonstrations. It is, among many things, the physical expression of a free country and a democratic government.
Rideau Canal
This historic waterway, with links to military and commercial history in 19th-century Canada, today functions as a recreational waterway in summer and as the Rideau Canal Skateway in winter. Though the Skateway was opened as recently as 1970, it has its roots in the love of winter recreation that was expressed in the skating parties and winter festivals of the late 19th century.
Central Experimental Farm
The Central Experimental Farm, established in 1886, is a research station of the Department of Agriculture, and it has played a key role in helping Canada to develop a highly productive, modern agricultural industry (for example, development of the highly successful Marquis strain of wheat). The Experimental Farm is also a Canadian agricultural landscape preserved in the heart of the Capital Region where visitors can learn about the rural traditions of Canada. Rare Canadian breeds are preserved here, and over 2,000 species of tree are nurtured in the Arboretum.
Confederation Boulevard
Confederation Boulevard is a cultural landscape for many reasons. It offers the single most dramatic view of Parliament Hill, set in an imposing position at the top of an escarpment and strongly linked to nature. Geographically, the boulevard draws a circle around the heart of the Capital Region and links French, English and Aboriginal peoples. It passes alongside parks that express a typically Canadian sense of connection to the landscape. It is lined with major institutions, including Parliament Hill and several national museums that express Canadian culture at its best. Its decorations (for example, the maple leaf-topped lampposts and celebratory banners) represent Canadian icons and themes. It is an avenue of national celebration and a focus for many of the ceremonies that arise from Canadian traditions and history.
McKay Estate
The McKay Estate is not only the complex of land and buildings that surround Rideau Hall (official residence of the governor general of Canada) but also the adjacent Rideau Falls and communities of New Edinburgh and Rockcliffe Park Village. Here, on land once owned by pioneer industrialist Thomas McKay, the themes of wilderness, settlement and industrial development have played out over time. These many layers of history may have left traces on the landscape that would qualify the estate as a cultural landscape.
Gatineau Park
A great deal of human history has taken place in these hills. The most recent era of history belongs to the Park, with conservation and recreation as its main themes. The Gatineau landscape expresses a very Canadian way of life, where city-dwellers have access to nature and outdoor recreation only 15 minutes from the heart of the city. However, this is only the latest in a long series of human connections to the Gatineau landscape. Evidence of each period of history remains in visible layers throughout the Park, and the terrain is strongly associated with the many historic themes, including agriculture, logging, mining and industry. A major “landscape within a landscape” is Mackenzie King Estate, where a former prime minister lived in the first half of the 20th century, in addition to the O’Brien and Willson estates.
The Parkway System
The parkways represent a fine and irreplaceable example of parkway design as an element of urban planning history in the mid-20th century. All the parkways in the Capital region point toward the core, to Parliament Hill. However, they also create links between important Capital treasures (e.g., national museums, Gatineau Park and the Rideau Canal) and displays of Canadian culture. Typically, the parkways run alongside the region’s waterways (the Ottawa River, the Rideau Canal) or lead to lookouts in Gatineau Park. Thus, they link people to nature. The Parkway System is potentially the most impressive cultural landscape in the Capital region.
The Greenbelt
One of the world’s most successful greenbelts, the National Capital Greenbelt was put together in the 1950s and 1960s to fulfil one of the key recommendations of the Gréber Plan, the 1950 master plan for the Capital region. The Greenbelt is a band of wild and rural land surrounding Ottawa to the south. It was designed to control urban sprawl, to offer outdoor recreation to city-dwellers and to act as a reserve of land for important institutional uses. Within the Greenbelt, some rural settlements merit further detailed study. Their design, architecture and the history of their use could all lead to recognition of the area as a cultural landscape.
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