Ottawa’s Building Permits, 1941

The Jackson Building received a $327,000 addition at the rear along Slater in 1941 for the RCAF. Image: geoOttawa.

1941 Ottawa was Wartime Ottawa. Of the top five building permits issued that year, four were issued to the Dominion Government to accommodate the expansion is wartime bureaucracy, and of those four, three were for the wooden so-called wartime “temporary” buildings.

The other major Dominion project issued a permit that year was the $327,000 addition to the rear of the Jackson Building, which had been recently expropriated for use at the RCAF’s Headquarters, to house additional offices.1Although Ottawans were entirely on board with the war effort, the expropriations and wartime office construction did provoke some anxiety. See “Spent $4,091,565 On Gov’t Buildings Last Fiscal Year,” Ottawa Journal, February 5, 1944, p. 12; “War Buildings in Ottawa Threaten Encirclement of Capital,” Ottawa Journal, August 8, 1942, p. 12; “Why Needed?” (Letter to the Editor), Ottawa Journal, August 25, 1942, p. 10. The Jackson Building (and its 1943/44 annex) has had an interesting life, which is well-covered by Robert Smythe, Charles Akben-Marchand, and even a little by myself.

OwnerDescriptionLocationValue
Dominion GovernmentWooden Building-150000
Woolworth StoreStoreSparks Street150000
Baker & BetchermanApartment Building-125000
Corporation of OttawaCivic Workshops-104236
-Seminary AdditionOttawa East70000
Dominion GovernmentWooden BuildingFoot of Lyon Street292000
Dominion GovernmentWooden Building No. 5Preston Street439300
Dominion GovernmentAddition to Jackson BuildingSlater Street327000
Bell Telephone Co.Addition (to Switch?)-300000
Ottawa Car & Aircraft--144000
Dominion GovernmentAylmer Apartments to Government Offices-55000
Bank of CanadaAddition-50000
PetergorskyApartment Building-90000
Capital Brewing Co.Addition-40000
Grace HospitalAddition to Nurses' Home-40000
J.R. BoothWarehouse-45000
Ontario Hughes-Owens Co.Addition-30000
Dominion Loose Leaf Co.Addition-25000
Brading BreweryAddition-23000
BarnabeeApartment-25000
McNeilApartment - Burned Area Repairs-28000
Metropolitan StoresAddition and Alterations-28000
British American Bank NoteAddition-25000
DominionWarehouse-33000
Gamble-RobinsonWarehouse-25000
CashmanApartmentFifth Avenue25000
More & SonApartmentThird Avenue20000
ProulxApartmentLaurier Avenue East25000

Notes

Notes
1 Although Ottawans were entirely on board with the war effort, the expropriations and wartime office construction did provoke some anxiety. See “Spent $4,091,565 On Gov’t Buildings Last Fiscal Year,” Ottawa Journal, February 5, 1944, p. 12; “War Buildings in Ottawa Threaten Encirclement of Capital,” Ottawa Journal, August 8, 1942, p. 12; “Why Needed?” (Letter to the Editor), Ottawa Journal, August 25, 1942, p. 10.