[1][2] In 1928, the National Capital Commission expropriated and demolished the Russell Theatre to make way for Confederation Square, leaving Ottawa without a major performing arts venue.

In 1963, G. Hamilton Southam[3] and Levi Pettler founded the National Capital Arts Alliance with the goal of creating a suitable venue.

In June 2010, Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a life-size bronze statue of the Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson outside the NAC during her royal tour of Canada.

The exterior and many interior walls are faced with precast concrete panels containing exposed aggregate of crushed brown Laurentian granite.

The three main performance spaces rise from the base as a series of hexagonal structures also faced with brown precast panels in a variety of textures.

On 17 March 1970, the 25th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands, a Dutch-Canadian Committee presented two organs purchased as the result of its Operation Thankyou Canada.