With strong support from parishioners present at a general meeting held August 11th and the approval of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa, Saint Clement Parish is set to reunite two historic Lower Town landmarks. Indeed, as of September 30, 2019, the parish will assume ownership of the former rectory of Saint Anne parish until very recently the headquarters of the National House of Prayer for a purchase price of $1,700,000.
The slideshow used at our parish meeting can be viewed in the links below (Power Point or PDF Formats):
Parish Hall Project Meeting Presentation (Power Point)
Parish Hall Project Meeting Presentation (PDF)
Built in 1921 to replace the original rectory of Saint Anne Parish founded in 1873, the Beaux Arts style building designed by W.E. Noffke (1878 ̶ 1964), a prolific and important Ottawa architect, served to house parish clergy and offices until the early 1980s. The exterior envelope as well as the main floor and a small portion of one of the upper stories of the former rectory were designated Heritage property by the City in 2015.
Plans currently in development call for the parish to undertake necessary repairs to the former rectory’s exterior which will remain intact. The one concession to be made to contemporary needs however will be making entry to the building itself and its upper levels universally accessible.
The ground floor interior which displays a high degree of craftsmanship largely unchanged since the building was constructed in 1921, will return to its original primary vocation and be dedicated to housing parish offices and meeting spaces.
With the help of engineers and in consultation with all of the relevant civic authorities, including Heritage, the parish intends to convert those portions of the upper stories not designated Heritage into a parish conference/banquet room. A video of the concept can be viewed below:
As custodian of the patrimony embodied by Saint Anne Church first of all and now very soon the former rectory only a few feet away, Saint Clement Parish reunites two important visual and historic landmarks until recent memory at the centre of the religious, social and cultural life in the Lower Town East community.