Ottawa Civic Centre - Construction

Construction

In the 1960s, the City of Ottawa was preparing to rebuild the football stadium at Lansdowne Park, on Bank Street at the Rideau Canal. During the planning phase, the old Ottawa Auditorium arena was demolished and the City now needed two new sports venues. The City combined plans and the Civic Centre arena was built together under the north grandstand of the football stadium. The combination has meant that the arena is rather oddly shaped, one side of the arena is actually located beneath the upper part of the stadium grandstand, with the result that it has a much lower ceiling than the opposite side of the arena.

Dominion Bridge was the supplier of the huge steel girders for the arena and stadium's frame, some so large they had to be brought to the site by barge, up the Ottawa River and down the Rideau Canal. According to Dominion Bridge "the most striking feature of the unique design concept is a giant overhanging roof reaching out 170 degrees from atop eight massive steel A-frames."

It opened on December 29, 1967, though seating was not complete, for an Ottawa 67's game versus the Montreal Junior Canadiens. Seats were taken temporarily from the Coliseum building nearby. The football stadium and arena complex was Ottawa's official "Centennial Project." Federal government grant money depended on the facility opening in 1967, and construction was rushed to meet the deadline.

The arena was renovated and seating increased in 1992 in order to temporarily accommodate the Ottawa Senators of the NHL. Luxury boxes were hung from the ceiling over 3/4 of the bowl and all seats except for the club seats were narrowed slightly in order to increase capacity to over 10,000. The seats were replaced in 2005 and wider seats were installed, thus reducing capacity to under 10,000 again.