First of all congratulations to Charles A-M aka Centretretowner for correctly identifying the former bank’s likeness in the central carved panel above the Wellington Street entrance. As you’ll recall our first round was a two-part question:
I am a building, and I just may be the only one in the downtown core to include a depiction of myself on my exterior. Who am I, and where on me do I feature this image of me?
The first part of the question drew a blank from everyone, but once we named the building as a further clue, Charles found the depiction, located under the rays of “Thrift” up on the edge of a bluff ( see image below). It is a rather heroic likeness, but there is nothing wrong with a little artistic license now and then.
Just for a bit of additional information, the likeness of the Montreal head office is featured prominently on the carved panel above the bank’s Sparks Street entrance, being cradled. It creates a nice bit of symmetry to have those two buildings featured above the two entrances. I have read that some identify the Ottawa head office as the most important Bank of Montreal branch constructed since the enlargement of the Montreal Head Office by McKim, Mead and White.
So with the inaugural round of Where in Ottawa completed it is time for the second edition!
Here is the clue:
While I currently sit unassumingly at the base of the city, stripped down, but encased, I once played host to spectacles and even the Prime Minister. What structure am I?
Email us your guesses, and if you get it right we’ll post your name in the next edition of the contest.