Charles Ogilvy Limited Department Store

What

Charles Ogilvy Limited Department Store

Where

126-132 Rideau Street, Ottawa

When

1908

Project Overview

The three-storey building’s steel frame construction enabled an unbroken expanse of large ground-floor windows (soon to be known for their captivating displays) along the front and side façades of the structure, without the usual piers. The outside walls were built of buff, pressed brick with Indiana sandstone trimmings. Inside, the walls were lined with hollow terra-cotta brick, a fireproofing material. The building's rounded northeast corner further distinguished Ogilvy’s, as did its Greek key-motif spandrel panels and “Tree of Life” panels. 

Within six years, Ogilvy's business had more than doubled. In 1913-14, Werner Ernst Noffke (1878-1964) designed an addition in the same architectural style which extended the building southward by seven bays to Besserer Street.