It was designed by CBC's chief architect David Gordon McKinstry and constructed between 1961 and 1964.

[1] It originally served as the headquarters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but significant CBC budget cutbacks in the 1990s led to the relocation of the head office staff in 1997.

The building was later occupied by the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and was renamed in honour of Lt.

Colonel Edward Drake, the first director of its predecessor organisation, the Communications Branch of the National Research Council.

The Communications Security Agency moved out of the building from 2014 to 2015, after their new facility was completed in Ottawa's east end.