Dominion Observatory — Attraction in Ottawa

The Dominion Observatory was an astronomical observatory in Ottawa, Ontario that operated from 1902 to 1970. The Observatory was also an institution within the Canadian Federal Government. The observatory grew out of the Department of the Interior's need for the precise coordinates and timekeeping that at that time could only come from an observatory. For several years they had used a small observatory on the Ottawa River for this purpose. In 1902, it was decided that Canada needed a larger national observatory similar to the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Britain.

Chief Dominion Architect David Ewart designed the Dominion Observatory in 1902.

The new building was then erected near Dow's Lake on the Agriculture Department's Central Experimental Farm land. This Romanesque Revival building was completed in 1905. Its main instrument was a 15-inch refracting telescope, the largest refracting telescope ever installed in Canada, although it was not a particularly large telescope for this period. While the building and institution were primarily dedicated to astronomical timekeeping in support of surveying, a number of other activities took place here. The Dominion Observatory was Canada's leading institution in Geophysics for many decades, which included the operation of Canada's national seismometer network. The facility did important work, but with this bridgehead into the world of astronomy and the growth of the field of astrophysics, Canadian astronomers quickly demanded a facility designed for the new scientific age. In 1917, the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory was opened in Victoria, B.C. and it supplanted the Dominion Observatory as Canada's foremost astronomical observatory. For many years, the Dominion Observatory was best known to Canadians as the source of Canada's official time signal.

The observatory continued in operation until 1970 at which time Canada's science institutions were reorganized. The national time-keeping and astronomical activities were transferred to the National Research Council of Canada, while the geophysics, surveying and mapping were transferred to the Department of Energy Mines and Resources. The Geophysics work was later merged into the Geological Survey of Canada, now part of Natural Resources Canada. Astronomical timekeeping observations at the Dominion Observatory had ceased many years prior to this, when crystal oscillator clocks and, later, atomic clocks were found to be superior to astronomical timekeeping. The building became home to NRCan offices. The telescope had been open for public viewing from 1905 until 1970. In 1974, the telescope was moved from the Dominion Observatory to the Helen Sawyer Hogg Observatory at the Canada Science and Technology Museum where it remained until 2016.

n the mid-1990s, the rumour within Natural Resources was that consideration was given to demolish the building to save money in a time of budgetary cutbacks. However, these plans did not come to fruition. As of 2008, the building is the home to the Office of Energy Efficiency, a part of the Energy Branch, Natural...

Brings back memories.

I spent my student summers of 1971 & 1972 working in the Gravity Division of the Geophysical Observatory - on this campus, but slightly downhill from the Observatory Building. At that time the telescope was either gone or no longer in use and the Observatory Building then housed the Seismology Division. The Geomagnetics Division was just to the North of the Observatory Building.

Oddly enough, I spent the summer of 1973 working for the Time & Frequency Division of NRC. By that time that group was on the NRC campus on the East side of town. By then, official timekeeping was done on atomic clocks (cesium beam masers). These were accurate enough to easily see General Relativistic effects between Ottawa and the US atomic...

Located within Agriculture Department's Central Experimental Farm campus. Lovely area for walks. Beautiful building architecture. Operated as an observatory from 1905 and closed in 1970. Now presently operated by the Energy Branch, Natural Resources Canada. Uncertain if any portion of the building may be open to the public. Some of the scientific instruments may now be at the Canada Science &...