The West Block (officially the Western Departmental Building;
french: Édifice administratif de l'ouest) is one of the three buildings on
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their architectu ...
, in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. Since 28 January 2019, it has housed the interim
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
Chamber, installed to accommodate the House while the
Centre Block
The Centre Block (french: Édifice du Centre) is the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, containing the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of a number of members ...
is closed. The West Block also houses offices for parliamentarians, a branch of the
Library of Parliament
The Library of Parliament (french: Bibliothèque du Parlement) is the main information repository and research resource for the Parliament of Canada. The main branch of the library sits at the rear of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa ...
, committee rooms, and some preserved pre-
Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
spaces.
Built in the
Victorian High Gothic style, the West Block has been extended twice since its original completion in 1865. Though not as renowned as the
Centre Block
The Centre Block (french: Édifice du Centre) is the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, containing the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of a number of members ...
of parliament, the West Block appears on the obverse of the
Canadian five-dollar bill
The Canadian five-dollar note is the lowest denomination and one of the most common banknotes issued by the Bank of Canada.
As with all modern Canadian banknotes, all text is in both English and French (see Official bilingualism in Canada).
...
.
Characteristics
Designed by
Thomas Stent
Thomas Stent (died 1912) was an architect in New York City. He assisted Alexander Saeltzer on the Astor Public Library and was the architect for the 1879–1881 expansion.
Stent was trained and practised in England before coming to London, Ontario ...
and
Augustus Laver,
the West Block is an
asymmetrical
Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...
structure built in the Victorian High Gothic style, with load bearing masonry walls, all clad in a rustic Nepean sandstone exterior and dressed stone trim around windows and other edges, as well as displaying a multitude of
stone carvings, including
gargoyle
In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...
s,
grotesque
Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...
s, and
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
s, keeping with the style of the rest of the parliamentary complex.
[ The West Block adds to the Ottawa skyline three prominent towers: the Mackenzie Tower (added in 1878), the Laurier Tower (added in 1906), and the Southwest Tower.
]
History
The Department of Public Works
This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure.
See also
* Public works
* Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
sent out, on 7 May 1859, a call for architects to submit proposals for the new parliament buildings to be erected on Barrack Hill, which was answered by 298 submitted drawings. After the entries were narrowed down to three, then Governor General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
Sir Edmund Walker Head
Sir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet, KCB (16 February 1805 – 28 January 1868) was a 19th-century British politician and diplomat.
Early life and scholarship
Head was born at Wiarton Place, near Maidstone, Kent, the son of the Reverend Sir J ...
was approached to break the stalemate and the winner was announced on 29 August 1859. The departmental buildings, Centre Block
The Centre Block (french: Édifice du Centre) is the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, containing the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of a number of members ...
, and a new residence for the Governor General were each awarded separately and the team of Thomas Stent and Augustus Laver, under the pseudonym of ''Stat nomen in umbra'', won the prize for the first category.[
Construction on all three blocks commenced by the end of 1859. By the time the West Block was completed in 1865, the building was three years behind schedule. The first tenants were the offices of the ]postmaster general
A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official respons ...
, the Ministry of Public Works
This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure.
See also
* Public works
* Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
, and the Crown land
Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...
s departments. As the number of parliamentary and administrative staff increased with the expansion of the country's area, more space was added to the West Block: the Mackenzie Wing and Tower in 1878 and, in 1906, the Laurier Tower and link.
In the early 2000s, the masonry of the West Block was found to be in a state of severe disrepair. Scaffolding and protective sheeting were erected in order to prevent falling blocks from striking pedestrians and cars below and a restoration project was immediately implemented. The two largest towers were also stabilised with temporary steel structures for fear of stones falling off them.
An $863 million project to completely renovate the West Block began in 2011, and the renovated building opened on 28 January 2019. In preparation for a planned, decade-long renovation of the Centre Block to begin in 2019, the central courtyard of the West Block was transformed into a temporary chamber for the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
. The new chamber is surrounded by exterior stone walls and covered by a glass dome roof which lets in natural sunlight. Multiple underground levels as well as planned tunnel connections to other Parliament Hill buildings were constructed out of dug-out bedrock under the West Block during the extensive renovations. When the renovation of Centre Block is complete and the House returns to its traditional chamber, the new House chamber will be used as committee rooms.
References
External links
Explore the West Block
(Parliament of Canada)
{{Parliament Hill
Parliament of Canada buildings