Westgate Mall was located on a triangular lot in Ottawa, Ontario. It was situated in River Ward 16 between the Carlington and West End neighbourhoods. Carlington is a residential area with many postwar veteran homes, a development that began after World War II. The West End stretches west of downtown Ottawa toward Kanata and beyond. Westboro, West Wellington, and Hintonburg are the area's nearest neighbourhoods.

Westgate stood at 1309 Carling Avenue, southwest of downtown Ottawa and west of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. It was bordered by Carling Avenue, Merivale Road, and Highway 417. The mall sat opposite Hampton Park, accessible via Island Park Drive. The nearest Highway 417 offramps are Island Park Drive and Kirkwood Avenue.

Description: An undated colour photograph shows a parking lot entrance to Westgate Mall. Beneath a cloudy sky, the entrance is sheltered by a glass atrium roof with a geometric pattern. In the middle ground, the mall’s brick facade extends horizontally from left to right, including signage for Rhythm Apartments, TD Canada Trust, and Rockin’ Johnny’s Diner. 

Caption: Unknown photographer, untitled, no date, photograph (posted to the Westgate Shopping Centre LoopNet page by an anonymous user). LoopNet Westgate Image.

Description: This 2025 colour photograph shows the Merivale Road entrance to Westgate Mall. The sky is clear and blue. One corner of the mall fills the middle ground. Its L-shaped exterior stretches horizontally across the frame's left, rising above a large parking lot. In the left foreground, a blue metal gate with a geometric pattern stands above a patch of grass.

Caption: CoffeeExact6400, "Westgate Shopping Centre: 70 years coming to an end. One last visit." r/Ottawa, Reddit, October 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/comments/1oiixv5/westgate_shopping_centre_70_years_coming_to_an/ 

Westgate Mall, completed in 1955, featured mid-century modern architecture. As Ottawa’s first postwar suburban shopping centre, it marked an exciting new chapter for the National Capital Region.

The mall was a model of Canadian modernist architecture and a landmark in its time. It exemplified the Modern Movement’s core values, emphasizing innovation and a distinct break with tradition. 

Among these core values were good design, universality, minimalism, functionality, and simplicity. These ideals stood in contrast to the era’s then-unwanted ornamentation, excess, and traditional forms.

Embodying these ideals, Westgate’s exterior exemplified modernist architecture. The design was defined by clean lines, geometric forms, and minimal ornamentation. These features expressed the efficiency and simplicity sought for postwar lifestyles of convenience and consumption.

Similarly, the layout mirrored this architectural approach. Reflecting postwar design priorities, the mall was arranged in an L shape with surrounding parking lots. Covered walkways allowed direct access to stores from the parking lots and connected the shops to pedestrian paths.

Over the decades, Westgate’s structure evolved. In the late 1970s, the mall was enclosed. This expansion added multiple entrances, interior corridors, atrium skylights, and movable glass-panel walls. Later, in 1990, the mall saw further growth, with more stores and a food court introduced.

Despite these changes, Westgate maintained its connection to the surrounding streets. By its closure in 2025, visitors could still enter from the parking lots via Merivale Road and Carling Avenue, where the mall's prominent exterior stood out. In contrast, the rear entrances by Highway 417 remained more nondescript.

Westgate’s exterior featured a one-story, red-brown brick facade. Thick checkerboard glass-panel windows curved into a V shape, each beneath a minimal triangular atrium roof. Nearly every entrance repeated this structure with a distinctive geometric pattern.

Thick glass panels served as windows, dividers, and ceilings, shaping entrances and illuminating hallways through geometric skylights. Storefronts displayed blue street signs and curved lampposts, while corridors featured benches, plants, white tile floors, and wooden handrails.

Westgate’s materials changed with each renovation. Inside, recently painted dark grey walls contrasted with older white ceiling panels. Outside, the red-brown brick and blue accents complemented each other. This blue appeared in mall logos, entrance signs, metallic supports, and ceramic tile.

At Carling Avenue and Merivale Road, red-brown brick met a second storey of brown and grey corrugated metal panels. Tall windows and exterior poles divided these levels. The poles were clad in grey coverings.

On Merivale Road, facing the hydroelectric substation, the building palette shifted. Beige-painted brick began here and continued around the rear entrances. This transition from the blue-accented red-brown brick at the front created a marked contrast with the main facade.

At the corner where Merivale Road passes under Highway 417, brown corrugated panels rose high above beige brick. This height and texture difference made mall signage visible to travelers on Highway 417.