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Rockcliffe Park ( French: ''Parc Rockcliffe'') is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward, close to the centre of
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada. Established in 1864, organized as a
Police village A police village was a form of municipal government that was used in the province of Ontario, Canada in the early 19th century if the finances or the population of an area did not permit the creation of a village. Formation In the early 19th centu ...
in 1908, and an independent village from 1926, and ultimately amalgamated with the rest of Ottawa on January 1, 2001. , it had a population of 2,021. In 1977 the entire village of Rockcliffe Park was designated a Heritage Conservation District. Rockcliffe Park is one of only a handful of surviving nineteenth-century communities of its kind in North America.


Geography

The area is northeast of downtown, on the southern banks of the
Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...
. It encompasses the small McKay Lake (a
Meromictic lake A meromictic lake is a lake which has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, holomictic lakes, at least once each year, there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters. The term ''meromictic'' was coined by the Austria ...
), Sand Pits Lake (The Pond), and the Rockeries, a
rock garden A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small ...
and playing field maintained by the
National Capital Commission The National Capital Commission (NCC; , CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), including administering most lands and build ...
(NCC). As it was long a separate village not under the jurisdiction of Ottawa's municipal government, Rockcliffe Park differs from the rest of the city. The village is characterized by its park-like setting, with varied topography – narrow curving roads without curbs or sidewalks, many trees, generous lots and gardens, and houses set unobtrusively within a visually continuous, rich green landscape. It is relatively inaccessible to through traffic. To the north, on the cliffs of the
Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...
, there is public greenspace maintained by the National Capital Commission, also called Rockcliffe Park. It is transversed by a branch of the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Parkway. The parkway has several small parking lots along its length that enable visitors to enjoy the lawns, wooded areas, parks, and lookouts. There is also a large
gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or Gun turret, turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden, or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. In British English, the word is also used for a tent-like can ...
, and public restrooms. In the winter visitors can enjoy cross-country skiing and toboganning. The largely
francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...
neighbourhood of Vanier lies to the south.


Heritage

Rockcliffe Park was founded by Thomas Keefer, in 1864, in accordance with the principles of the
Picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...
tradition. The preservation of the natural landscape with roads lined with mature trees and curving around a varied topography, its rocky outcroppings and its lake and pond, as well as strong landscaping of individual properties, are all key to the Picturesque quality of the Village. The motto on the village coat-of-arms is “Inter Arboribus Floremus” - amidst the trees we flourish. The entire village is a Heritage Conservation District. Heritage conservation district plans have been required for all heritage conservation districts in the province since 2005. After public consultations, and review by the City of Ottawa's Built Heritage Subcommittee and Planning Committee, the Rockcliffe Park Heritage Conservation District Plan was approved by Ottawa City Council in 2016. Legislation was enacted to adopt the Plan, pursuant to Section 41 of the ''
Ontario Heritage Act The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Canadian Province of Ontario, as being of cultural heritage ...
''. The Plan's objective is conservation of the park-like qualities of the area, and of the buildings and properties that contribute to its heritage character. Since a heritage permit is now required prior to undertaking the alteration or demolition of a property, some property owners have raised concerns that market values will be negatively affected – see
Ontario Heritage Act The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Canadian Province of Ontario, as being of cultural heritage ...
: Implementation and Issues. This heritage designation of properties was challenged in a landmark case of 270 Buchan Rd; in May 2019 the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal sided with the homeowner ordering that city to issue permit for demolition. The heritage consultant found incomplete evaluation forms and observations that don’t align with scores in a sample of 50 evaluations. The downfall of the city’s case to protect the home was an admission that 721 property evaluations in Rockcliffe Park were not done correctly and that more errors could be uncovered in the future. In the case of ''Statler v. Ottawa'' (City), 2017 CarswellOnt 18749 (O.M.B), the Ontario Municipal Board ("OMB") made the decision that Heritage Conservation District studies adopted prior to the 2005 amendments to the OHA have no force in law; and, that the pre-2005 OHA did not control property, only structures, resulting in the lack of legal authority to regulate land. "The decision of the OMB in Statler v. Ottawa (City) represents a warning to cities across the province that the Board (now the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal) will not allow municipalities to overreach their powers under the Ontario Heritage Act ("OHA")."


Community

The community is home to one public elementary school, Rockcliffe Park Public School (RPPS), and two
private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...
s, Elmwood School and
Ashbury College Ashbury College is an independent day school, day and boarding school, boarding school located in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was originally founded in 1891 by former faculty of Bishop's College School in Quebec to acc ...
. Located beside the elementary school is a
community hall A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...
/
library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
complex. The library was originally funded, built and staffed through the efforts of Rockcliffe residents, but is now a branch of the Ottawa Public Library, with computer access, a children's area, a young adult section and regular adult section. The library houses a special collection of art-related books called the Margaret A. Bailey collection. In the community hall, there are memorabilia about and from HMCS ''Rockcliffe'' – an ''Algerine''-class minesweeper that served during World War II – and a plaque and honour roll dedicated to residents who served. There is no commercial activity in the village. Rockcliffe Park is and has been home to many Ottawa notables, including former prime ministers, senior civil servants, corporate leaders and many ambassadors to Canada. The Dutch royal family lived there during World War II. Their former home,
Stornoway Stornoway (; ) is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides (or Western Isles), and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it the third-largest island town in Scotlan ...
, is now the residence of the leader of the Canadian
Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...
. Rockcliffe Park Public School, which was attended by the eldest princess, Beatrix, now calls its gymnasium Queen Juliana Hall.


Demographics

According to the
Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...
: *Population: 1,888 *% Change (2016–2021): −2.3 *Dwellings: 781 *Area (km².): 1.77 *Density (persons per km².): 1069.6 Average
salary A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. ...
in Rockcliffe Park is $186,000, whereas the average salary in
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
is $64,500, based on average total income in 2020 among recipients. The benchmark price for a single family home in Rockcliffe Park was $1,516,300 in August 2017, compared to $398,400 for the city of Ottawa as a whole.


Reeves and Mayors

The leading politician of Rockcliffe Park was known as the Reeve until the 1980s when that position was redesignated as Mayor. * 1926–1928: David L. McKeand * 1928–1932: R. E. Wodehouse * 1933–1938: C. P. Edwards * 1938–1954: D. P. Cruikshank * 1954–1956: James Hyndman * 1956–1965: Denis Coolican * 1965–1974: Alan O. Gibbons * 1974–1978: Ronald Clark * 1978–1985: Beryl Plumptre * 1985–2000: Patrick Murray Following amalgamation into Ottawa, the role of Mayor of Rockcliffe Park was eliminated.


See also

*
List of Ottawa neighbourhoods A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence of the governor general of Canada, the representative of the monarch of Canada. Located in Ottawa, the Capital city, capital of the country, on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, th ...
*
Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport or Rockcliffe Airport , a former military base, is a non-towered airport located on the south shore of the Ottawa River, northeast of Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The airport is the home of the Canada Aviation and S ...
* Rockcliffe Flying Club


References

*  , accessed 20 January 2007 * *


External links

* {{authority control Neighbourhoods in Ottawa Former municipalities now in Ottawa Former villages in Ontario Populated places disestablished in 2000 Diplomatic districts