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Houses of Parliament
Location: Wellington Street
Architect: Fuller & Jones/Stent & Laver Pearson & Marchand, constructed: 1859-1965 /supporters.asp?id=2648
One of Canada's most famous and recognizable landmarks are the three Gothic-Revival stone buildings on Parliament Hill. They are perhaps also the most ambitious architectural project in Canadian History. The Nepean sandstone exterior creates a richly textured and multi-coloured appearance that, after the recent cleaning, continues to impress visitors with their subtle beauty. The three blocks making up the main Parliament buildings were laid out around a large public lawn, as in the quadrangles of medieval colleges in Oxford, England.
A competition was held for the design, for which eighteen architectural firms submitted twenty-three designs for the complex of three buildings. Fuller and Jones, architects from Toronto, won the design for the Centre block and the library, and the partnership of Thomas Stent and Augustus Laver won first prize for the East and West Blocks.
In 1916, however, the Centre Block burned to the ground, only the Library survived in its original design. The Centre Block was re-constructed based on newer construction techniques and a more modern design. Now only the East Block, the Library and the surrounding stone fence remain in their essentially original conditions. The West Block was modified following a major fire in 1897, and substantial renovations in the 1950s.
For a historical account of the fire, see the Government of Canada site.
More information on the Parliament Buildings can be found on pages 18-23 of the book, Historical sketches of Ottawa by Leslie Maitland and illustrated by Louis Taylor, Broadview Press, 1990.
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