Parliament Building
I’m on Vancouver Island now. I’ve dumped my stuff at the hotel just around the corner and taking the alte afternoon air and enjoying the sites of Victoria, the state capital of British Columbia. I like their flag; it even has part of the UK’s Union flag in it.
From 1856 to 1860 the Legislature of the Colony of Vancouver Island sat at Bachelor’s Hall at Fort Victoria. From 1860 to 1898 it was housed in the first permanent building at Legislative Hall or Birdcages (burned down 1957). The main block of the Parliament Buildings combines Baroque details with Romanesque Revival rustication
Construction of a new Parliament Building was first authorized by an act of the provincial legislature in 1893, the Parliament Buildings Construction Act. The province, anxious to show its growing economic, social and political status, was engaged in an architectural competition to build a new legislative building in Victoria, after outgrowing the previous wooden building, colloquially known as “The Birdcages” because of their shape, which were notoriously drafty and leaked in wet weather. Francis Rattenbury, a recent English immigrant entered and signed his drawings with the pseudonym “A B.C. Architect”, he progressed to the second round signing his drawing “For Queen and Province” and eventually winning the competition, despite being only 25 years old.
Despite many problems, including going over budget—the original budget was $500,000 the final amount was $923,000—the British Columbia Parliament Buildings were officially opened in 1898. The grand scale of its 500-ft (152-m) long andesite façade[5], central dome and two end pavilions, the richness of its white marble, and combination of Baroque rigorous symmetry, use of domes and sculptural massing with the rusticated surfaces of the currently popular Romanesque Revival style contributed to its being an innovative and impressive monument for the young province. Its success garnered Rattenbury many more commissions in Victoria and other parts of the province, including the Legislative Library 1913-1915, the design of The Empress Hotel, the Crystal Gardens indoor swimming pool nearby, and the Vancouver Court House (now the Vancouver Art Gallery). The andesite of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings is from Haddington Island in the Alert Bay Volcanic Belt.[6] The granite used to build the buildings came from Nelson Island, at the mouth of Jervis Inlet, on the Sunshine Coast.
Besides the elected Members of the Legislative Assembly, two organizations have been granted the privilege of using the Legislative Chambers during the legislature’s December recess: the British Columbia Youth Parliament (since 1924, except during its sessions in the late 1940s and early 1950s) and the British Columbia Universities’ Model Parliament.
During the 1994 Commonwealth Games, free music concerts were held on the front lawns of the buildings, attracting up to 40,000 people. Similar-sized crowds have gathered on the front lawn over the years, ranging from political protests and rallies, such as during the Solidarity Crisis of 1983, to celebrations of various kinds, including the BC 150 ceremonies.
(Information from Wikipedia)
