Laurier Avenue ''(French: Avenue Laurier)'' (Ottawa Road #48) is a central east west street running through

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Originally known as "Maria Street" (west of Waller) and "Theodore Street" (east of Waller), it was renamed in honour of Canadian

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Sir

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...

Laurier House Laurier House (french: Maison Laurier) is a National Historic Site in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (in the Sandy Hill district). It was formerly the residence of two Canadian prime ministers: Sir Wilfrid Laurier (for whom the house is named) and Will ...

, the residence of Prime Ministers Laurier and

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Li ...

, is located at the corner of Laurier Avenue East and Chapel Street.

Route

;Bronson Avenue to the Rideau Canal Laurier runs through the heart of

downtown Ottawa Downtown Ottawa is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa's financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the ea ...

. The south side of Laurier from Bronson east is almost all high-rises, starting with residential towers at Bronson, and commercial and government office buildings further to the east. Located on the south side of Laurier, between Bank Street and O'Connor is the main building of the Canadian Department of Finance. The main branch of the

Ottawa Public Library The Ottawa Public Library (OPL; french: Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa) is the library system of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The library was founded in 1906 with a donation from the Carnegie Foundation. Services * Information and reference servi ...

is located at the intersection of Laurier and Metcalfe, and

Ottawa City Hall Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of ...

is on the south side of Laurier between Elgin Street and

Queen Elizabeth Driveway Queen Elizabeth Driveway is a scenic parkway in Ottawa, Canada, that runs along the western edge of the Rideau Canal. It runs from Laurier Avenue (Ottawa), Laurier Avenue in the north to Dow's Lake where it turns into Prince of Wales Drive (Ottawa ...

. Next door to Ottawa City Hall is Cartier Square Drill Hall, from which the daily 'Changing of the Guard' procession begins. The north side of Laurier, across from City Hall, is

Confederation Square Confederation Square (french: Place de la Confédération) is an urban square in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and is considered the second most important ceremonial centre in Canada's capital city, after Parliament Hill. Roughly triangular in ar ...

. Laurier Avenue was selected in 2011 as the first street in Ottawa to feature a fully segregated bike lane. ;Rideau Canal to Rideau River The street crosses the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name ''Rideau'', French for "curtain", ...

over the

Laurier Avenue Bridge The Laurier Avenue Bridge is a bridge in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It carries Laurier Avenue over the Rideau Canal and also Colonel By Drive and Queen Elizabeth Driveway. The green steel arches makes the bridge one of the most recognizable in Ot ...

and passes the

Department of National Defence Headquarters National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) ( French: ''Quartiers généraux de la Défense nationale'' (''QGDN'')) was created through the integration of Canadian Armed Forces Headquarters (CAF HQ) with the civilian Department of National Defence (DN ...

before heading through the campus of the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

. It then goes through the neighbourhood of Sandy Hill, passing near many embassies. The embassy of Iraq (previously the embassy of Angola) is prominent on the corner of Laurier and King Edward. The street finally ends at Charlotte just before it meets the

Rideau River The Rideau River (french: Rivière Rideau) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writin ...

, at Strathcona Park, quite near to the Russian embassy.

References

External links

{{Ottawa Roads Roads in Ottawa