This is an ongoing study of abandoned / vacant / dilapidated buildings around Ottawa. Within a fifteen minute walk in any direction from the Parliament Buildings and City Hall there are dozens of vacant buildings, usually homes or small apartment buildings. They are boarded up, rotting, overgrown and — presumably — awaiting to be sold to a developer. Most of them are also fine buildings... or, at least, they were. These buildings represent the true veneer of Ottawa: full of neglect and waste.
This notion is best represented by the infamous Somerset House, at the corner of Bank & Somerset. A historic, heritage building sitting at the literal main intersection of commerce in the city, is now empty and falling over. It has been in this state for almost a decade and seemingly, no one can do anything about it. If this were a European capital, the building would be lovingly preserved, by whatever means necessary.
