Doors Open Ottawa
Saturday, 4 June & Sunday, 5 June, 2005
10:00 - 16:00

Cartier Square Drill Hall will open its doors to the public, free of charge, during the City's weekend celebration of historic and architecturally significant buildings. This is a great opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the regimental home of The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa!

Cartier Square Drill Hall
The Cartier Square Drill Hall was completed in October 1879. The drill hall is seventy meters long, covered in red brick, constructed on a stone foundation and adorned with two forty-three meter tall mansard towers. It was erected with built-in water and gas lines, the latter feeding eight cast iron stoves. In the 1880s its dirt floor was replaced with wood flooring. By the 1910s the building was in a severe state of disrepair. Minor repairs were followed by more extensive work from 1980 to 1982. In 1993 major renovations were begun, partly because the construction of the RMOC headquarters had undermined the building's foundation. The foundation was shored up, the stained glass window was cleaned and the original roof beams were inspected. The drill hall reopened in September 1996 and is home to the Governor General's Foot Guards and The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa.

Officers' Mess
The drill hall's Officers' Mess is used by both the Governor General's Foot Guards and The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. Originally constructed in the 19th Century for the officers of the Foot Guards, the mess was the scene of Sir Sam Hughes' (the Minister of Militia and Defence at the time) declaration of war by Canada in 1914. In addition to an extensive art and regimental silver collection, the mess also houses the current Queen's and Regimental Colours of both regiments.

Heritage Room
The Heritage Room was originally designed as the officers' mess of The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa when the two regiments in the drill hall maintained separate messing facilities. This room was used as the Camerons' Officers' Mess for more than a century, until the mid-1990s when the two messes were combined in the current Officers' Mess. Painting, artifacts and photographs from both regiments are on the walls of the Heritage Room, including a large portrait of Colonel Cameron Macpherson Edwards, long-time Commanding Officer, honorary Lieutenant-Colonel and Honorary Colonel of The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa

Doors Open Ottawa is the once-a-year chance to fully explore the city of Ottawa- literally from the ground up!

For more information, please visit the City of Ottawa Webpage at http://www.ottawa.ca/