Chateau in Distress

When I worked in retail many years ago, the store owner used to encourage me to be aggressive when negotiating with suppliers. “Ask for the moon”, he would tell me, “and settle for half of it.”

This is a strategy that has been used again and again by developers and architects. Plan something bad, but propose something really horrific. Then present your original plan as a ‘concession’ based on ‘consultation’. Finally, wait for everyone to applaud your willingness to compromise, and for City Hall to roll over.

One can only assume that that is what is behind Wednesday’s proposal for an expansion of the Chateau Laurier. Because I can’t imagine that anyone really thinks that changing this:

into this:

is a good idea.

The proposal characterized this design as ‘deferential’ and ‘subordinate’ to the original building. I only saw this in print, so I don’t know if it was said with a straight face. The reality is that it runs roughshod over the existing building. The Canadian Register of Historic Places (Parks Canada) lists ‘style, scale, massing and composition’ as among the key elements of a historic building that must be preserved if its heritage value is to be protected. This proposal ignores the Chateau’s style, obscures its scale, and utterly destroys its massing and composition – the very elements that have made it an Ottawa landmark for the last century.

But all this may be beside the point. Perhaps we should reserve judgement until we see what the owners are really planning – because it surely can’t be this.

Peter Coffman
peter.coffman@carleton.ca