City Registry Office
70 Nicholas Street
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
The City Registry Office seems out-of-place somehow, sitting in the shadow of the Rideau Centre on Nicholas Street. Built in 1873, it housed the city's registry records until 1909, including deeds, mortgages and lot plans.
In 1917, the Women's Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa moved in, and on October 25th of that year, they opened the first exhibition at the new Bytown Historical Museum (which moved to its present location on the Ottawa Locks site in the 1950s).
Passers-by will notice the Registry Office's round-headed window and door openings; even the name stone is shaped as a semi-circle. The land registry office is one of only four of its kind remaining in Ontario. Since 1982, the City Registry Office has sat vacant – and its fate remains undecided.
