1913 – Proposal for Departmental Buildings, Ottawa, Canada

The plans were prepared by architect Edward White with Aston Webb by request of the Canadian prime minister while in England in the summer of 1912. Originally asked to prepare a masterplan, he supplied perspectives of his suggested designs. The buildings shown were stated to be “merely tentative sketches designed for the guidance of British and Canadian architects in a competition that will be inaugurated shortly”. This was not particularly well received by architects in Canada with harsh criticism in the printed press. The government responded by shelving the proposal, and calling a new architectural competition for the site in 1913, but WWI intervened and the project was abandoned.

“The criticism of Mr. W.E. Noffke, also of Ottawa, is that insufficient study is revealed in several details. For instance, he contends that the tower in the centre of the buildings hides the Justice Building and further expresses the opinion that since the classic style has been adopted a dome would be more appropriate than a central tower, The tower should be placed where it would be of value in breaking up the sky-line. The rear elevation is too flat and the small towers on the corner of the wings are insignificant in comparison with the magnitude of the scheme.”
Engineering and Contract Record, February 5 1913

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