Green Island
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
Green Island is best known as the home of the old Ottawa City Hall. Built in 1958, the City Hall was the first building in Ottawa to be fully air-conditioned.
In 1988, a plan to quadruple the size of the original building was launched. Architect Moshe Safdie was chosen for the project, but conflict soon arose. Safdie's original design included a pair of 18-storey observation towers. City Council decided against the towers in an effort to save one million dollars on the 72-million-dollar project. Safdie felt that the towers were essential to his design and a compromise was reached. A bare scaffold was built to represent the planned towers.
Less than ten years after the controversial modifications were complete, the building was sold to the federal government, following the creation of the new and much larger City of Ottawa. City Hall is now located at 110 Laurier Avenue West.
