A building located on 70 Nicholas Street in Ottawa is endangered.

The building will interefere with Rideau Centre Shopping Mall expansion plans.
Timeline:
1873-1874 - The City Registry Office is constructed on 70 Nicholas Street..."A single-storey pale salmon-gold brick structure with classical temple massing. Together with the former Carleton County Courthouse and the County Gaol located across the street, the property formed the judicial district of 19th century Ottawa." (From: "Historic Places.ca.)
1917 - The first Bytown Museum is located here.
1935 - The city of Ottawa sold the office to the federal government.
1954-1966 - Rented to various organizations.
1978 - City Council designated 70 Nicholas under Part 1V of the Ontario Heritage Act.
1990 - Acquired by Viking-Rideau as part of a land exchange deal with Public Works. There was no committment to preserve the office.

                             

When 70 Nicholas Street was transferred by the Department of Public Works to Viking-Rideau, it lost all federal heritage protection. However, the province of Ontario has the power to designate the location a "Heritage Conservation District" because the Carleton County Courthouse, the old jail and the registry office are clustered in one area, and they were part of the judicial district.
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates- February 14, 2008.
Mrs. Natalie Bull  (Executive Director, Heritage Canada).
     "The federal government is a major property holder and counts more than 1,300 designated heritage buildings among its inventory...The 35 buildings in the real estate study included buildings such as the Dominion Public Building in Toronto, the National Printing Bureau in Gatineau, the East Memorial Building in Ottawa and the Wellington Building that we are sitting in today...Our concerns fall in two areas. One is the important role of the federal government as a trustee of legacy buildings. Our second concern is the risk that the buildings face when they leave the federal inventory."
Ms. Diane Bourgeois (Terrebonne-Blainville) BQ:
     "You seem to say that, in the case of a sale of a (government of Canada) building that is considered as historic...there's no provision for its preservation."