Designed by and
John A. Pearson, the Centre Block is a
symmetrical structure, long by deep, and six storeys high, built in the modern Gothic Revival style. As such, it displays a multitude of
stone carvings, including
gargoyles,
grotesques, and
friezes, keeping with the
Victorian High Gothic style of the rest of the parliamentary complex. The walls are faced with more than 50,000 blocks of over 24 different types of stone, though a rustic finished Nepean sandstone is the predominant kind of
masonry, with dressed stone trim around the 550 windows and other edges. The roof is of reinforced concrete covered with
copper, and dotted with
dormer windows. The interior walls are sheeted with
Tyndall stone, a dolomitic limestone quarried in southeastern
Manitoba and chosen by the architect for the richness of its vibrant colour and rich pattern formed by darker brown spots which are fossilized shallow marine mud burrows. These surfaces are augmented by sculptural decoration done in Indiana limestone. The Centre Block houses offices and facilities, including the
office of the Prime Minister, that of the
Leader of the Official Opposition, and the offices of other party leaders, as well as senators, ministers, and Commons staff. Further, there are numerous parliamentary committee rooms and the
Parliamentary Press Gallery.
Confederation Hall The Centre Block is arranged symmetrically around Confederation Hall, located immediately inside the main entrance. It is an octagonal chamber, the perimeter of which is divided by limestone
clustered columns into eight bays of two different sizes, themselves subdivided by dark green
syenite pillars. Behind these runs a vaulted
ambulatory that supports the upper gallery. The
arcaded arches are topped by
gables sculpted to commemorate the
confederated nature of Canada and they support one side of the hall's
fan vaulted ceiling with carved
bosses, while the other side rests on a single column in the centre of the room. This column is borne on a stone carved with an image of
Neptune amongst
sea lions and fish in a mythical sea. It was placed at noon on 2 July 1917, to mark the 50th anniversary of Confederation, and above it was carved the words: Around the central column is an inlaid marble floor with a 16-point
windrose of Verde Antique
serpentine from
Roxbury, Vermont, United States, and a swirl pattern of green serpentine from the Greek island of
Tinos, embedded in Missisquoi boulder grey marble, from
Philipsburg, Quebec. The overall pattern represents the essential element of water, alluding to Canada's motto: (from sea to sea). The inner and outer circles of the floor are made of a Missisquoi black marble from Philipsburg and white travertine from Italy, as well as Verde Antique serpentine separated by a band of Missisquoi boulder grey marble. There were originally two renditions of the
sovereign's Canadian arms, one each on the north and south walls of Confederation Hall; however, the latter was reworked in 2000 by
Maurice Joanisse into the above-mentioned coat of arms of the newly created territory of Nunavut.
Hall of Honour Extending from Confederation Hall is the Centre Block's north to south axis, running between the
Library of Parliament and the
Peace Tower, through the Hall of Honour, which serves as the route of the parades for both speakers of parliament, as well as where the
lying in state segment of some
state funerals takes place. It is a long, rib-vaulted space of Tyndall limestone divided into five bays by superimposed double arcades of
lancet arches atop clustered columns on pedestals. These bays are subdivided in half by single-storey pointed arches on dark green syenite pillars, above which sit
clerestory windows of
cusped lights segmented by Missisquoi Black marble posts, though only those on the east of the hall are windows, while the others are blind. Running the length of the hall and resting on
corbels carved into
early English foliage and other customary symbols, is a ribbed vault ceiling rising to bosses carved with Tudor roses and
fleurs-de-lis. The hall is bisected by small, vaulted corridors, the east one leading to a committee room, and the west to the old reading room; the latter is known as the ''Correspondents' Entrance'', as it is lined with bosses and
label stops sculpted by Cléophas Soucy between 1949 and 1950 into the visages of ten notable parliamentary correspondents: Charles Bishop,
Henri Bourassa,
John Wesley Dafoe,
Joseph Howe,
Grattan O'Leary,
Frank Oliver,
John Ross Robertson,
Philip Dansken Ross,
Joseph Israël Tarte, and Robert S. White. The north end of the hall is crossed on both levels by the Centre Block's north corridor, with an overlooking gallery lined by iron railings by
Paul Beau. The Hall of Honour was intended to be a gallery where statues of notable Canadians would be arranged in the niches along each side. That plan was later abandoned in favour of a more general purpose of commemorating the 1916 fire, as well as honouring those who participated in the Great War. The sculptures remain incomplete; only the north end, closest to the Library of Parliament, has completed carvings. The largest of these stone sculptures is a
low relief memorial to
nursing in Canada, depicting those care-givers who participated in World War I, while another work,
Canada Remembers, pays tribute to those who were involved in the
Second World War. Two other pieces mark the efforts of early
nation-building, such as that donated by Canadians living in the United States and which celebrates the 60th anniversary of Confederation. On the centre table sits the Diamond Jubilee Calendar, paid for by donations from senators and commissioned to mark the
60th anniversary of Elizabeth II's accession as Queen of Canada, it displays symbols chosen to depict the evolution of the French and British Crowns into that of Canada. and painted
coffers of the Senate chamber ceiling The Senate chamber's overall colour is red, seen in the upholstery, carpeting, and draperies, and reflecting the colour scheme of the
House of Lords in the United Kingdom; red was a more royal colour, associated with the Crown and
hereditary peers. Capping the room is a
gilt ceiling with deep octagonal
coffers, each filled with
heraldic symbols, including maple leaves,
fleurs-de-lis,
lions rampant,
clàrsach,
Welsh Dragons, and
lions passant. This plane rests on six pairs and four single
pilasters, each of which is capped by a
caryatid, and between which are
clerestory windows. Below the windows is a continuous architrave, broken only by
baldachins at the base of each of the above pilasters. On the chamber's east and west walls are eight
murals depicting scenes from the
First World War. Painted in between 1916 and 1920, they were originally part of the more than 1,000 piece Canadian War Memorials Fund, founded by
the Lord Beaverbrook, and were intended to hang in a specific memorial structure. But the project was never completed and the works were stored at the
National Gallery of Canada until, in 1921, parliament requested some of the collection's oil paintings on loan for display in the Centre Block. The murals have remained in the Senate chamber ever since.
Edgar Bundy's
Landing of the First Canadian Division at Saint-Nazaire, 1915, depicts the first landing of Canadian troops in France, at
Saint-Nazaire, led off the
Novian by the
pipe band of the
13th Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada), CEF, and watched by officers, troops, and townspeople.
Algernon Talmage painted
A Mobile Veterinary Unit in France, showing a scene on the
Cambrai front, where a Canadian Mobile Veterinary Unit is taking wounded horses to an evacuating station.
Railway Construction in France was painted by
Leonard Richmond to show the construction of a railway by the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps in the deepest trench in France.
James Kerr-Lawson was commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Fund to create both
Arras, the Dead City—which depicts the ruins of
Arras Cathedral as they were in 1917—and
The Cloth Hall, Ypres, a painting of the destroyed, 600-year-old
Cloth Hall in
Ypres.
Claire Atwood's
On Leave documents (as battlefield scenes were thought inappropriate subject matter for female artists) the
home front activities of the
Canadian Expeditionary Force at a
YMCA canteen in one of
London's train stations as they await their train to the
battlefront.
The Watch on the Rhine (The Last Phase) was painted by Sir
William Rothenstein to symbolically represent the defeat of Germany, with a British
howitzer facing across the
Rhine, and old and new Germany embodied in the ancient hills and factory chimney. And Sir
George Clausen's
Returning to the Reconquered Land was painted to illustrate agricultural land behind the front lines in France and shows people returning to their destroyed homes following the armistice.
Senate foyer stone
tracery filled with
stained glass. To the Senate's immediate south is that room's foyer, a double-height space surrounded by a double-layered
colonnade, the inside ring of attached shaft columns rising to the ceiling and the outside ring of rose coloured limestone columns supporting a second-floor
gallery. Within the stonework are sculpted depictions of important figures in pre-
Confederation Canada, as well as self-portraits of the sculptors who fashioned the stone. A number are dedicated as the ''Sovereigns' Arches'', with corbels sculpted into depictions of Canada's monarchs; the latest addition being that of Queen
Elizabeth II, unveiled on 9 December 2010. The entire ceiling is of a
Tudor-style stone
tracery filled with
stained glass depicting royal emblems, such as provincial coats of arms, as well as symbols of First Nations and the names of all the speakers of the Senate up until the ceiling's installation in 1920. Above the exterior entrance into the foyer is a stained glass window commemorating the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Designed by Christopher Goodman and Angela Zissoff of
Kelowna, British Columbia, with input from the
Speaker of the Senate,
Noël A. Kinsella, and the
Canadian Secretary to the Queen and Usher of the Black Rod,
Kevin MacLeod, and approved by the Queen, the window shows Elizabeth and
Queen Victoria with their respective
royal cyphers and renditions of the Centre Block during the reign of each monarch. A gift to the monarch from the Senate, it was constructed over six weeks from 500 pieces of machine-made and
mouth-blown glass from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. The foyer walls bear portraits of Canada's past monarchs. The portrait of Queen Victoria by
John Partridge has notably been rescued four times from fire, while others were added after the new Centre Block was built. The chamber is 21 metres long, 16 metres wide, The overall colour scheme is in green—visible in the
carpeting, bench upholstery, draperies, paint within the gilded
honeycomb cork plaster work of the
cove, and the stretched
linen canvas over the ceiling—and is reflective of the colour used in the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom since at least 1663. are spaced apart from one another, with the
speaker of the House of Commons seated between the two sides. On the floor, the opposing members' benches are spaced 3.96 m apart on either side of the room, a measurement said to be equivalent to two swords' length, harkening back to when English members of parliament carried swords into the chamber. Directly between, directly opposite the main door, on the chamber's axis, is the
speaker's chair, made in 1921 by the English firm of
Harry Hems as an exact replica of that in the British House of Commons. It is topped by a carved wood canopy bearing a rendition of the
royal coat of arms of Canada sculpted in wood from the roof of the
Westminster Hall, which was built in 1397; the whole was a gift from the British branch of what is today the
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. The chair has since been augmented with a
hydraulic lift, lighting, writing surfaces, and, at the foot of the chair, a television screen and computer screen to aid the speaker in monitoring the process of the house. Behind the chair is a door that gives the speaker access to the speaker's corridor, which links the commons chamber to the speaker's chambers, and which is lined with portraits of past speakers of the House of Commons. As with other areas of the Centre Block, the commons walls are enriched with shafts, blind tracery, friezes, and a sculpture programme. The room was the last space in the building to be carved, with sculptural work only beginning in the late 1950s and continuing intermittently for the following two decades; approximately 225 blocks of varying sizes still remain uncarved.
Evolution of Life, a series of 14 sculptures within the spandrels of the pier-arches at the north and south ends of the House of Commons, depicting Canada's palaeontological past and the evolution of humanity through philosophy, science, and the imagination; and
Speakers and Clerks, comprising four heads carved on the
jambs of the two doors on either side of the Speaker's chair, depicting the speakers and clerks of the House of Commons at the time of the opening of both parliament buildings in 1867 and 1920, respectively. With the closure of Centre Block for renovations in December 2018, the Commons chamber was relocated to the nearby
West Block.
Commons foyer Directly south of the House of Commons is that room's foyer, a rectangular, two storey arcaded hall surrounded by clustered limestone piers and moulded arches that support an upper cloister lined with black marble posts. The foyer is approached from Confederation Hall by the South Corridor, which is lined with portraits of former prime ministers,
Other rooms Railway Committee Room The Railway Committee Room is to the east of and accessed from the Hall of Honour. It is a double-height space done in a
Beaux-Arts style, with a heavily
coffered ceiling and, above a one-storey-high ashlar stone base, pilasters on the walls—all the aforementioned painted in a cream colour—between which are panels of
moss green fabric, except where there are windows on the east wall. In it hangs a reproduction of
Robert Harris's painting
The Fathers of Confederation, as well as a rendition of the
Canadian Royal Arms and the
Will Longstaff painting
The Ghosts of Vimy Ridge which commemorates the
Battle of Vimy Ridge. It is used by the official Opposition party for meetings, as well as by various committees. The current room dates from 1916 and replaced the same that existed in the 1866 Centre Block and was named for the 166-member Railway Committee that once met in it. That space also served as home to the
Supreme Court of Canada from 1876 to 1889.
Reading Room -style and where the governing caucus meets. Directly across the Hall of Honour is the Reading Room, ==History==