Clegg-Feller Building – Ottawa

# Public Buildings
2023 Chris

“I have visited the Clegg-Feller Building (155-159 Rideau Street) in Ottawa, innumerable times over the years. Completed around 1864, it is the oldest surviving commercial building in the city, and has housed at least 13 different commercial operations: from a law firm to a tobacco shop, jewelry, clothing, straw hats, furniture, a photography studio, and most recently a convenience store. An remarkable chameleon, the robust, self-effacing little structure vividly embodies adaptability, and is also beautiful, constructed of wood milled to look like cut stone, an early 19th century vernacular practice in the Ottawa area. So useful and adaptable has the building been, that the first threat of demolition only came in 1980 – almost 120 years into its life – and was saved via heritage designation by broad public outcry.” (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2023, p.107).

 

Google map link: https://www.google.com/maps/place/159+Rideau+St+%23155,+Ottawa,+ON+K1N+5X4/@45.4271782,-75.6924918,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4cce0503cc2fe33d:0x8bfa4f60b6e05fbc!8m2!3d45.4271745!4d-75.6899169?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkxOC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

chris

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