Ontario Legislative Building
The Parliament of Ontario (English Ontario Legislative Building, French Édifice de l' Assemblée Legislative de l' Ontario) is a building in the Canadian city of Toronto. It serves as the seat of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the Vice Governor of the Province of Ontario. The building in the Romanesque Revival style, was completed in 1893. It is located in Queen's Park, which is owned by the University of Toronto, but was leased in 1859 for a term of 999 years to the provincial government for a symbolic price of one dollar per year. Because of the pink hue of the sand stone used to build the Parliament Building is also known as the "Pink Palace ".
Architecture
The building, designed by the English architect Richard A. Waite building is an asymmetric five-storey building in the Romanesque Revival style, the load is supported by a steel skeleton. Inside and outside it is whenever possible lined with Canadian building materials. The 10.5 million bricks were manufactured by inmates of the Central Prison and the sandstone - with a pink hue, the colloquial name Pink Palace earned the building - from the valley of the Credit River and from Orangeville, Ontario. He remained largely natural on the facade, but was smoothed around the windows and other corners. The building also has a variety of embellishments, including gargoyles, grotesques, and friezes. The windows are unusually large, which is due to the steel skeleton structure.
The main facade is south facing, with the symmetry axis of the building coincides with the course of University Avenue and thus forms a visual completion of this major route. The Council Hall in the center of the building is shared by this axis into two halves; three large arched window above the portico to come up with the daylight. Two dome towers flanking this block; the western should receive a clock, but was instead equipped with a rosette, as were not enough funds available for the clock. The asymmetry of the southern front was originally less pronounced than it is today: The West Wing should be three stories high, and receive a pyramidal roof, as the east wing today. After the fire of 1909 the west wing was repaired and supplemented by a fourth floor, which has at the long gable dormers. At the end of the East-West axis both wings are bent at right angles, thus forming one of three sides enclosed courtyard. In this courtyard is a free-standing, rectangular building is four storeys.
Inside, a central hall from the main entrance extends south to a large staircase directly opposite. From the middle level of the Parliamentary Library can be achieved in the building in the courtyard. On the upper level of the staircase is the lobby of the council chamber, the door is aligned centrally on the south wall. From here, wide corridors extend east and west, both interrupted by an ornamental ornate light well. The east wing corresponds with the dark wood paneling of the Victorian architectural style. The west wing corresponds with the marble-clad walls rather neoclassicism.
Located on the northwest corner of the building, the viceregal suite of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario since the provincial government in 1937, the Government House sold to the federal government. This area was previously used as a dining room of the Cabinet and home of the speakers. The apartment of Lieutenant Governor currently covers two floors and has a goal for formal receptions. Against this there is a rose garden, which was founded in 1977 in honor of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II of the Monarchist League of Canada. Inside are - grouped around a central hall - reception rooms, a dining hall for gala dinners, office space and service spaces. The furniture and candlesticks were taken over by the former Government House, the paintings are from the collection of the province and from the city library of Toronto. The music room is the largest room in the viceregal apartment and is a venue for various ceremonies.
History
Predecessors
Today's Parliament Buildings Ontario is the seventh building that serves this purpose. The first was the Navy Hall in Newark (now Niagara-on -the-Lake ), where on September 17, 1792 was held the first meeting of the House of Representatives of Upper Canada. Two years later, in York (now Torono ), work began on a new parliament building, as Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe held the position of the provincial capital, at the border to the U.S. for too unsafe. After the events of the American Revolution, the relations between the U.S. and Britain were hostile. In June 1797 wooden, as Palace of Parliament designated building at the intersection of Front Street and Parliament Street was completed and the Parliament held there from its first meeting.
However, the move to York not guaranteed the protection of the capital. The Palace of Parliament burned down on April 27, 1813, when American troops during the British -American War raided the city. The Parliament then gave off a session in the ballroom of York Hotel ( between King Street and Front Street ). Then there was gathered regularly until 1820 at the home of Chief Justice William Henry Draper, which was located at the intersection of Wellington Street and York Street. The new Parliament building, built on the same site as the previous building, fell after only four years of use on December 30, 1824 by a fire after an overheated flue had caused a spark.
From 1825 to 1829 the Parliament met General Hospital in the newly built York. As this is the start of the hospital delayed unnecessarily, Parliament moved to the old courthouse on King Street. 1832 a new parliament building at the corner of Front Street / Simcoe Street was opened. It was until 1840 operated as a senior Canada was united with Lower Canada to the province of Canada and the then Governor General Lord Sydenham moved the capital to Kingston. There, the Parliament held its meetings in the building of the General Hospital.
In the following years the capital of the Province of Canada changed several times: from 1843 to 1849 it was Montreal, Toronto to 1852, to 1856 Quebec, until 1858, in turn, Toronto, Quebec City from 1859, and finally from 1866 Ottawa.
Today's building
On 1 July 1867, the province of Canada joined the new Canadian confederation and shared on the same day in the modern provinces of Ontario and Québec. As the capital of Ontario Toronto was determined and the provincial parliament moved back into the building on Front Street, which had already been used by the Parliament of the Province of Canada. Two fires in the years 1861 and 1862 had damaged it, so repairs had to be made.
1880 wrote the province of an architectural competition for a new parliament building that was to be built in Queen's Park. However, all designs submitted exceeded the cost ceiling of $ 500,000. The Legislative Assembly decided in 1885 to increase the construction budget to $ 750,000, and spoke in favor of the draft by the New York English architect Richard A. White. Construction began in 1886 and the official opening took place on April 4, 1893 by Lieutenant Governor George Airey Kirkpatrick ( although the building was not finished yet ). Construction costs eventually amounted to approximately $ 1,250,000. Some criticized the building as " too American ".
The old parliament building on Front Street stood empty for several years and has been canceled 1900-1903. The provincial government sold the land to the Grand Trunk Railway, which was built on a cargo warehouse and yard. The Canadian National Railway took advantage of the terrain to the 1970s. Today there are the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, a publicly accessible place, and several high-rises.
The ever- increasing population of the province required the extension of the parliament building. 1909 a wing was added on the north side, the enclosed courtyard. During construction, broke out on 1 September from a fire. Workers had kindled in galvanizing the roof accidentally sparks that jumped over and then destroyed the interior of this part of the building. The repairs and reconstruction lasted until 1912. Further extensions of the parliamentary infrastructure were made from then on the east side of Queen's Park Crescent. In the following decades originated a total of five high-rise buildings for the provincial administration (Whitney Block 1925, Macdonald Block and Hepburn Block 1968, Mowat Block and Hearst Block 1969).
The site of the first and second parliament building on the corner of Front Street / Parliament Street remained unused until 1838. Then there were a prison, a gas station and several small factories in the automotive industry. Today there is a car park next to a car dealership. Since the beginning of the 21st century archaeological investigations are carried out there and there are efforts to get the case discovered remains.