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Hello From Ottawa - Part 9 - 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 centralThe hotel is named after James Bruce, 8th
lodging location than the Lord Elgin Hotel.Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine
It is located right at the Intersection of(1811 to 1863) who became Governor General of
Elgin and Laurier Streets, just steps awayCanada in 1847. He became the first Governor
from Parliament Hill, the War Memorial, theGeneral to remove himself from the affairs of
Chateau Laurier, the Government Conferencethe legislature, which led to the essentially
Centre and the National Arts Centre.symbolic role that the Governor-General of
Confederation Park, one of the main locationsCanada  has  today.
for Winterlude, is located right across the
street.Ann also allowed me to have a look at some
correspondence between Prime Minister
We could not have found a better spot for ourMackenzie King and the grandson of the
Ottawa Winterlude getaway last weekend. Myoriginal Lord Elgin, who donated two marble
room on the 4th floor was very comfortablebusts of his grandparents, Lord and Lady
and I had a perfect view out over ElginElgin. The correspondence dates back to 1940
Street, looking at the Chateau Laurier andand talks about shipping the busts on
the War Memorial on one side, and facingwarships during World War II from Scotland to
Confederation Park and the Rideau Canal onCanada.
the other. We literally left our car parked
for the whole 2 days and were able to getAnn also mentioned that during the summer a
everywhere  we  wanted  on  foot.portion of the Changing of the Guards
ceremony can be seen directly outside the
The Lord Elgin was a perfect starting pointhotel. And the starting line for the Ottawa
for our adventures on the Rideau Canal, andInternational Marathon is located immediately
our excursions to the ByWard Market andin  front  of  the  Lord  Elgin  Hotel.
Sparks Street. Further south on Elgin Street
is another major entertainment area nestledBeing the nosy person that I am I wanted to
inside an established neighbourhood withget the real low-down on this property and
exclusive  homes  and  condominiums.Randy Battcock, Guest Services Manager at the
Lord Elgin, agreed to take me on a tour
Ann Meelker from the Lord Elgin Hotel wasthrough the property. Randy is an interesting
kind enough to give me a lay of the land andindividual himself, he hails from
pointed out the local landmarks. She alsoNewfoundland and worked for a local airline
explained to me that the National Conferencefor 21 years. After running a guest house in
Centre actually used to be a railroad stationOttawa for 8 years he applied for the Guest
many years ago, when train tracks were routedManager's position and got the job the next
right  next  to  the  Rideau  Canal.day. It is obvious that Randy loves what he
does.
My big interest in this hotel was its history
as it was constructed more than 60 years ago.During our tour through the building, Randy
So I did some reserach to dig into theexplained that the original building was
background  of  this  historic  building.H-shaped and that the back was filled in many
years ago to enlarge the rooms. In some of
In 1940, as the Second World War brought morethe boardrooms on the higher levels you can
and more official visitors into town, Ottawastill see the former street façade on the
found itself desperately short of hotelwest  side,  now  forming  an  inside  wall.
accommodation. A local entrepreneur and city
alderman by the name of Chester Pickering,Two 8-storey towers were added on the north
President of Dustbane, Modern Buildingand south side and they added 55 additional
Cleaning, and Michael's Industrial Equipment,bedrooms, an inground pool and a restaurant.
was entrusted with the job of bringing a goodAnother little known fact is that there is a
hotel to the City. He connected with Jack3 bedroom apartment on the 12th floor which
Udd, a wealthy businessman from Rochester,to this day is the residence of the former
New York, the president of the Ford Hotelmanager of the hotel who spent 50 years
Chain.managing the hotel and raised his children
there. The apartment has the only patio in
They were looking for a suitable site for thethe building with a perfect view east towards
hotel and finally found one in an abandonedthe  Rideau  Canal.
lot at the corner of Elgin and Laurier.
However, obtaining the land was complicatedRandy also enlightened me that of the four
by the fact that it was owned by the federalguest elevators, two are original and date
government.all the way back to 1941. The fourth elevator
used to be a smokestack for the furnace in
It seemed highly unlikely that this landthe basement, but it was dismantled bit by
could be obtained from the government, butbit to allow for the construction of an
through personal connections and variousadditional elevator. The building still has
outright shenanigans Chester Pickering wasan original functioning mail chute where you
able to get the property. Chester Pickeringcan drop your letters from any floor and
knew that then Prime Minister Mackenzie Kinggravity will take them to the mailroom from
longed to make Ottawa the most attractivewhere  they  will  be  sent  out.
capital in the world, so he was sure that the
idea of cleaning up this run-down area wouldAlthough the Lord Elgin Hotel is one of the
appeal  to  the  Prime  Minister.most renowned and venerable institutions in
Ottawa, it has a cozy feel to it. During my
And not only did Pickering get the land, hestay it was hosting hundreds of people who
also got a low-cost tax assessment on it, inwere attending Winterlude, so you saw all
light of the fact that government had notthese families with children dressed up in
been receiving any taxes on this federallyheavy winter garb walking through the
owned property at all before. With all thehallways. I had several friendly chats with
conditions met, Jack Udd started building thestaff members, and in particular with one
hotel and Prime Minister William Lyonyoung bellman who was part of the Lord Elgin
Mackenzie King even laid the cornerstone. Theteam in the 26th Annual Bedzz Race on Dow
Lord Elgin was completed in 1941 in aLake.
classical French chateau style at a cost of
about  C$1,500,000.The spot in front of the fireplace in the
lobby was always taken by people relaxing,
All throughout Prime Minister Mackenzie Kingreading a paper, or conversing while warming
took a strong interest in the hotel andup after a cold day. We noticed that the
virtually designed the pillars in front ofatmosphere was always relaxed and
the hotel himself. He also insisted that thedown-to-earth, never snobbish, as you might
hotel be built of stone, not brick. Jack Uddexpect of a hotel of this stature. For us it
agreed on a compromise and used stone at bothwas the perfect location for a weekend of
ends and in the front, but he would put brickexploration in Canada's capital.
in  the  back.



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