Tour the Hill > Centre Block
Original Centre Block - Parliament Hill
Take a tour of the original Centre Block.
At the time, it was one of the largest construction projects in North America. The final cost was about $1.7 million. There were criticisms that the buildings would be far too big for such a small country and that there would be more space than they could ever use for the next century or two.
The Parliament Hill buildings were designed to house the entire government in a single complex on the Hill.
The Centre Block on Parliament Hill had:
- two legislative chambers,
- a picture gallery,
- a library,
- 85 assorted committee rooms,
- reading rooms,
- clerks’ rooms,
- an apartment for the Speaker, and
- about 170 offices.
The architects were Thomas Fuller and Chilion Jones who designed a Gothic Revival style building. The contractor was Thomas McGreevy.
Materials that were used were:
- sandstone from a quarry in Nepean Township, Ontario, Canada.
- windows and doors arches were warm-coloured red sandstone from Potsdam, New York.
- the dressings were of grey Ohio freestone.
- the roofing was dark slate from Vermont, decorated with a band of light green slate from the same quarry.
- an iron crown was added to the Victoria Tower (the main entrance) in 1878, making the tower 55 m (180 ft.) high. It was final step in the 20-year construction of the building. A light, which was turned on when Parliament was in session, was subsequently installed in the tower.
- the House of Commons Chamber, carpeted in green, as well as the Senate Chamber, carpeted in red, were both 26.8 m by 14.3 m (88 ft. by 47 ft.).
Sources and further reading
Web
Visit Canada's Parliament - Parliament of Canada