The Central Core Business District of Ottawa is composed of many unique architectural characteristics from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and a significant number of later alternations and infills. Many of these later constructions were not appropriate for the maintenance of the architectural and cultural fabric of the downtown environment.

The appearance of individual buildings, storefronts, signs, window displays, sidewalks, artwork, street parking and alleys, establishes the visual character of the downtown and plays a major role in the marketing success of the business district. There is no other locale in the world that has architectural features identical to downtown Ottawa. The preservation and promotion of this fact can be an important marketing element while maintaining the historical identity of our community. Presenting an attractive image is simply good business. Improvement and maintenance is essential to strengthen the appeal of individual properties and the image of the downtown and the community at-large.

The following guidelines have been developed to enhance the individual character of each building while strengthening the overall image of downtown. They do not advocate a theme approach. Theme designs based on stereotypical concepts of the current building tenant or generalized ethnic heritage are not historically accurate or sensitive to adjoining buildings. When done, they soon become trite, inconsiderate blemishes on the cityscape. A long-term, pleasing treatment can be accomplished by examining each building individually and taking advantage of its historic authenticity. In the absence of this authenticity, it is encouraged that future modifications be made to be consistent with and sympathetic to its historic neighbors. The intent is not necessarily to reproduce the appearance of a building exactly as it appeared at a particular time period. A building can be improved by using what exists, minimizing the less attractive features and adding simple, and many times inexpensive, elements to emphasize positive features. Removal of inappropriate tacked on alterations, simple maintenance, the addition of a well-designed sign or awning, and care in the selection of colors and materials, can give very appealing visual results. Such improvements are good, lasting investments both in terms of cost and customer relations. By coordinating improvements, merchants can maintain their individual identities while strengthening the image of the downtown as a whole.

Purpose of Guidelines

1. To provide basic, common sense advice on enhancing the design characteristics of buildings in downtown Ottawa.
   
   
2. To provide a written framework for visual improvements that can be followed for years to come.
   
   
3. To provide direction towards design compatibility within individual buildings and the entire downtown.
   
   
4. To provide direction towards a quality image for downtown Ottawa.
   
   
5. To preserve those architectural features that are unique to the downtown and to the heritage of the Ottawa Community.

Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation

The following Secretary's Standards serve as the core for the detailed Downtown Ottawa guidelines.

Standards for Rehabilitation

1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships.
   
   
2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.
   
   
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken.
   
   
4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved.
   
   
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved.
   
   
6. Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence.
   
   
7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used.
   
   
8. Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
   
   
9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.
   
   
10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.