Hall of Honour
This impressive ceremonial hall is used for state
occasions, parliamentary events, and formal processions
such as the Speaker's Parade. The Hall of Honour is
part of the central axis of the Centre Block, joining
Confederation Hall to the Library of Parliament, and
providing access to the main committee rooms.
Like Confederation Hall, the Hall of Honour has
received a full Gothic Revival treatment. The walls are
lined with a superimposed double arcade divided into
ten bays, intercepted by the north corridor. The lower
level consists of pointed arches formed by clustered
piers and slender shafts set on pedestals. Behind the
upper arcade, there are clerestory windows of cusped
lights. The whole is covered with a fine ribbed vault,
resting on corbels enriched with early English foliage
and other traditional motifs.
The vault and walls of the Hall of Honour are sheathed
in Tyndall limestone, enlivened at the lower level with
dark green syenite shafts. The polished marble floor is
a field of Missisquoi Boulder Grey marble with interior
borders of Verde Antique serpentine. Missisquoi Black
marble was used for the exterior borders, bases and
column pedestals, as well as for the slender shafts of
the upper arcade.
The Hall of Honour was originally intended as a place
to display statuary and bronzes memorializing
noteworthy Canadians. This original plan was
subsequently modified, so that today, the walls are
decorated with a number of commemorative reliefs and
plaques referring - as incised on the central column in
Confederation Hall - to the first Parliament building,
the fire, Confederation and the Great War.
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