House of Commons Chamber
Located on the west side of the building, the House of Commons Chamber
is the most spacious room of the Centre Block. The architects made provisions
for 320 members, and the galleries were designed to accommodate 580 people.
Careful planning also resulted in three new surrounding spaces which had
not existed in the original Parliament Building: the antechamber, and
the Government and Opposition lobbies located on the east and west sides
of the Chamber, respectively.
The Chamber's grand design and high level of decoration — its rich
and varied materials, fine art embellishments, exquisite craftsmanship,
handsome furnishings — are in keeping with the prestige of a plenary
meeting room for Canada's most important democratic institution. The architects
envisioned an elegant and dignified assembly hall of Gothic Revival style.
The Opening of Parliament on February 26, 1920 took place in the new
House of Commons Chamber: an exceptional occurrence, undertaken only because
the Senate Chamber had not yet been constructed. A local newspaper declared
that the architectural beauty of the splendid room, enhanced by the presence
of the social elite in a formal evening affair, made for quite an impressive
scene. The high level of interest in this event came largely from the
public's desire to see inside the new Parliament Building, even though
it was incomplete.
The Chamber's decorative finishing touches were also far from being completed.
Carpenters had just finished installing the woodwork the week before the
Opening of Parliament. As a result, old furniture from the Victoria Memorial
Museum — the temporary seat of Parliament from 1916 to 1919 —
was used for the occasion. The room's complex decorative program unfolded
during the 1920s, resuming again at the beginning of the 1970s with the
installation of stained glass windows and sculpture series.
|
