Rideau Street
Rideau Street (Ottawa Road #34) is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is one of Ottawa's most famous streets. It serves as the major east-west Street for Ottawa's Lower Town. The street used to be Highway 17B before that was discontinued in 1998. It runs from the Rideau Canal in the west (where it turns into Wellington Street) to the Rideau River in the east, where it turns into Montreal Road, in Vanier. Rideau Street is also home to the Chateau Laurier and the Government Conference Centre (Ottawa's former central train station).
For many years, Rideau Street was one of Ottawa's primary retail thoroughfares, containing department stores such as Freimans, Ogilvy's, Woolworth, Caplan's and the Metropolitan. Although the local department stores are gone, Rideau Street still features The Bay department store, the Rideau Centre shopping mall, and the street is adjacent to shops of the Byward Market.
To the north of Rideau is the traditional Lower Town district of Ottawa. To the west of King Edward is the commercial Market area. To the east is a predominantly residential area, formerly Francophone that is now home to a variety of immigrant groups, notably many Francophone Africans and Somalians.
To the south of Rideau Street is the Sandy Hill neighbourhood, with its mix of embassies, older houses, low- and high-rise apartment buildings, and student housing.