The Ottawa Journal Building, now referred to as the Jean Edmonds South Tower, is an office building located deep in Centretown at 365 Laurier Avenue West.

The Ottawa Journal Building is one of two identical towers on the site, the other sitting on the north end at 300 Slater Street, the towers are joined by a low-rise middle portion and exterior courtyard. In the South Tower, there is a noticeable additional height at the fourth floor, where the Ottawa Journal press room was located prior to the construction of the towers. The Ottawa Journal Building is clad in precast concrete panels with recessed windows, at the corners of the building the glass panes of the windows meet each other.

In 2017, the North Tower was covered in metal panels to replace the concrete, the metal is painted brown in an attempt to match the old concrete. No new insulation appears to have been added when the tower was re-clad, and the change from precast concrete to metal panels seems to be purely cosmetic. The towers don’t feel nearly as unified following the re-cladding of the North Tower.

The North Tower of the complex was completed first in 1970, and the South Tower containing the Ottawa Journal was completed shortly after in 1973. The towers were officially renamed the Jean Edmonds Towers following the death of Jean Edmonds, Canadian journalist, in 1994. A biography is on display in the lobby of the South Tower.

More information on the Ottawa Journal Building can be found at the Related Resources