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The Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Parks Canada
25 Eddy Street
(25-5-P)
Gatineau, Quebec
Canada
K1A 0M5

General Inquiries:
(819) 994-6333
Email:

The Federal Heritage Building Review Office

A picture of the Parliament Buildings from the Ottawa River, Ottawa, Ontario
The Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, Classified federal heritage buildings
© Parks Canada

Welcome

What do the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, the Cabot Tower in St. John's, the Grande-Allée Drill Hall in Québec, the Customs Examining Warehouse in Winnipeg, Point Atkinson Lighthouse in Vancouver and Auto Repair Shop at Bear Creek, Yukon have in common?

They are all buildings owned by the Government of Canada and they have all been designated as federal heritage buildings.

Protection of the Government of Canada's heritage buildings became an issue in the early 1980s as a result of strong public concern for the protection and conservation of heritage buildings. The federal government was prompted to take action to protect its own buildings and in 1982, Cabinet approved the Federal Heritage Buildings Policy.

The primary objective of the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office (FHBRO) is to assist federal government departments in the protection of their heritage buildings, in accordance with the Treasury Board Heritage Buildings Policy. The policy applies to all federal government departments which administer real property but not to Crown Corporations. This means, for example, that many post offices and all railway stations are not covered by the policy.

FHBRO evaluates all federal buildings 40 years of age or older in order to determine heritage character. It makes recommendations to the Minister of the Environment, who is responsible for approving the heritage designations of all Government of Canada buildings. Through this process, buildings are designated as either Classified, the higher level of designation, or Recognized, the second level.

FHBRO also provides advice to federal government departments that wish to make changes, or interventions, to a designated building, to ensure heritage character is protected.

The Government of Canada owns more than 40 000 buildings, of which, more than 20 000 have been evaluated and over 1300, or 3%, have been designated. These buildings are recorded in the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings, which is maintained by FHBRO.


Last Updated: 2006-09-19 To the top
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