Credit: William James Topley/Library and Archives Canada/PA-
To quote the Joni Mitchell song, “They paved paradise / And put up a parking lot.” I don’t know that anyone would describe the Supreme Court as paradise, but what was once the beautiful old Supreme Court building is currently a parliamentary parking lot.
I stumbled across this interior picture on the Library and Archives Canada online image database, and immediately wanted to take a trip back through time to see this building. In use by the court from 1882 to 1945, the building was originally built as the Board of Works (nowadays Public Works and Government Services) Workshops Building, and it was actually shared with the National Gallery. Alas, the building was demolished in 1956, and the lot it was on has remained relatively empty since then (click here to see that spot in Google street view). To learn more about this building, and see some more vintage Ottawa pictures, check out this great post.