Nations are often represented in foreign countries by
their embassy and therefore its architecture is an especially delicate matter: it houses
offices, hosts meetings and is an official monument of the home country. The French Embassy in
Ottawa is an example of an aesthetic that is somewhere between tradition and modernity.
Designed by Eugène Beaudouin (1898- 1983), a formally trained architect known for his very
modern style, the building is a site of tension between a national style and the political use
of Canadian heritage and illustrates the evolution of embassy architecture during the 20th
century.
