Stained Glass Windows - Ottawa Public Library - Ottawa, Ontario - William Shakespeare on Waymarking.com

Located in the Ottawa Public Library Main branch above the Mezzanine.

"The window honours literature and prominent authors. In the centre, there is a reader cradling a book in one hand. The border includes Ottawa’s resident poet Archibald Lampman and Britain’s Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, Thomas Moore, Walter Scott, William Shakespeare and Alfred Tennyson.

The existing branch is not the branch that originally stood here, the one that opened in 1906, that had been made possible by Andrew Carnegie. The current building, built in the 1970s, replaced it, and this stained glass is the only remaining piece of that original building.

Here’s an excerpt from Phil Jenkins’ The Library Book: An Overdue History of the Ottawa Public Library:

“The wreckers’ hammers began assaulting the old Carnegie in the summer of 1971, while library services continued in seven rented floors of the vacant tower that had formerly housed The Ottawa Journal. When the demolition crew reached the stained glass window over the front door, they donned kid gloves and lowered it carefully to the ground, then encased the historical artifact in plywood, ready to be re-inserted in the new walls. The assistant director of the library, Jean de Temple, had made it her business to save the stained glass, and she did. (Ten years later, to celebrate the library’s 75th anniversary, the window was chosen as the symbol of the library, and appeared on posters throughout the city). […] In April 1974 the stained glass window was slotted into place over Metcalfe Street, its luminescent authors staring down on a fresh scene…”" (visit link)

Location Type: Building If other, please explain:: Property Type:: Public Date of event:: Original building 1906 and current building April 1974 Location notes:: Ottawa Public Library Main Branch 120 Metcalfe Street 10:00 am - 9:00 pm URL for Additional Information:: [Web Link]

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