The building is located at 100 Wellington Street in Block 2 of Canada's Parliamentary precinct, immediately south of Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa.

The current Beaux-Arts building on site was built in 1931 to house the first permanent United States Embassy in Canada, but was closed after a move to a new location in 1999.

[1] Consisting of three storeys, the building's "... rectilinear footprint, flat roof, and symmetrical composition centred on the main entrance of the principal elevation… possesses a simple, imposing cube-like massing".

[1] The building is finished in Indiana Limestone, and features finely carved classical details on its principal facades, while Vermont marble, and floor-to-ceiling oak panels fashion the interior spaces.

[6] Then Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, assured the United States that Canada would be an autonomous nation by the time the embassy was planned for completion in 1932.

[8] However, when the Conservative government took power in 2006, the project was cancelled, and instead "...a national competition for private sector bidders to house the portraits in one of nine cities" was launched in November 2007.

[14] After repeated and rejected requests to the Canadian government, the Nation's Grand Chief, Verna Polson, commenced a hunger and water strike in the summer of 2019, blocking the main entrance of the 100 Wellington building.