[someone123]

Thanks for the information. That is interesting, and kind of what I figured. It looks like the Parliament Hill area and hotel/canal area was planned in the late 1800's and early 1900's while Wellington Street and the other side looks like 1940's (car-oriented but not freeways).

It is very different from Washington which was planned on a grand scale. Washington also put in a 90-foot height limit in the 1890's. I think it would have been better if Ottawa had been similar. Of course, even if you go back to 1867, there was already a town there and re-aligning streets would always have seemed disruptive. But in retrospect it would not have been a big loss to tear down some small houses in 1870 to lay the groundwork for a much larger city.

Halifax was a planned town in the 1740's but the scale of the original grid is very small. You see the planning though in that George Street is the main axis and it lines up with the town clock and Grand Parade. Outside of this old grid area, the street network becomes irregular. Originally there were walls as well that extended from the harbour up to Citadel Hill (which back then had a few much smaller forts on it).