Rideau Street
Rideau Street is a major street in downtown
Ottawa,
Ontario,
Canada. It is one of Ottawa's most famous Streets. It serves as the major east-west Street for Ottawa's
Lower Town. The street used to be Ontario Provincial Highway 17B before it was downgraded in
1998. It runs from the
Rideau Canal in the west (it turns into
Wellington Street) to the
Rideau River in the east, where it turns into
Montreal Road, in
Vanier. Rideau Street is also home to the
Chateau Laurier and the
Conference Centre (Ottawa's former central train station).
For many years, Rideau Street was one of Ottawa's primary retail throughfares, containing
Freimans,
Ogilvy's and
Caplan's department stores. Although the local department stores are gone, Rideau Street still features
The Bay department store, the
Rideau Centre shopping mall, and the street is adjacent to shops of the
Byward Market.
As Rideau Street goes east and passes King Edward Avenue, it changes from the upscale and busy
Market area to the poorer, often-ignored
Lower Town district (mostly on the north side of Rideau). This traditionally
Francophone area is now home to a variety of immigrant groups, notably many Francophone Africans and
Somalians. To the south of Rideau Street is the wealthier
Sandy Hill neighborhood, with its mix of
embassies, upper-class houses, low- and high-rise apartment buildings, and student housing.
*
Rideau Street Chapel*
Sussex Drive*
Wellington Street (Ottawa)
