| Saskatchewan Legislative Building | |
|---|---|
| Saskatchewan legislative building.jpg Saskatchewan Legislative Building |
|
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
| Town or city | Regina, Saskatchewan |
| Country | Canada |
| Construction started | August 31, 1908 |
| Completed | January 25, 1912 |
| Cost | $1.75 million |
| Design and construction | |
| Client | Government of Saskatchewan |
| Owner | Government of Saskatchewan |
| Architect | Edward and William Sutherland Maxwell |
The Saskatchewan Legislative Building is located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and houses the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.
Contents |
The Saskatchewan Legislative Building was built between 1908 and 1912 in the Beaux Arts style to a design by Edward and William Sutherland Maxwell of Montreal. The Maxwells also supervised construction of the building by the Montreal company P. Lyall & Sons, who later built the Centre Block of the federal Parliament Building in Ottawa after the 1866 Parliament Building was destroyed by fire during 1916. Piles began to be drilled for the foundations during the autumn of 1908 and during 1909 the Governor General of Canada, the Earl Grey, laid the cornerstone. In 1912, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, by then the serving governor general, inaugurated the building.[1][2]
The design contemplates expansion of the building by the addition of wings extending south from the east and west ends and coming together to form a courtyard. The plans originally called for the exterior of the building to be red brick but after construction had begun and red bricks were already on the site, Premier Walter Scott decided that Manitoba Tyndall stone would give the building greater grandeur and the plans were adjusted with the substitution increasing the building cost by $50,000. The total cost of construction came to $1.75 million by the time of its opening during October 1912, ten months after the assembly had begun meeting in the yet-uncompleted building.
Diverging from parliamentary tradition, the carpet in the legislative chamber is red. Canonically, red carpet is used for houses of unelected members, such as the Canadian Senate, and houses of elected members are given blue or green carpet. In anticipation of green carpet, the legislative chamber was given green marble trim. Walter Scott preferred red carpet, and the Saskatchewan Legislative Building stands as one of only two in Canada to feature red carpet in its legislative chamber (British Columbia's being the other).
Walter Scott anticipated that the building might "for a century yet be credible enough to form the main building on the Capital grounds" (Barnhart: 2002, 43), the general assumption of the time being that Saskatchewan's population would grow to several million. That century has now almost elapsed; the provincial legislative building remains the main building on the "Capital grounds," but indeed, continues to be the most imposing structure in a city smaller than its founders envisioned.
Such planning is evident in the legislative chamber itself, designed to accommodate well in excess of one hundred members. The assembly has never expanded beyond 66 MLA's (and has been fixed at 58 members since 1995). As a result, even after those elections which yielded massive majorities (such as those held in 1982 and 1991) there has been plenty of space to seat all government members to the speaker's right. The Institute for stained glass in Canada has documented the stained glass at Saskatchewan Legislature. [3]
The Saskatchewan Legislative Building is located at 2405 Legislative Drive, Regina, overlooking Wascana Lake. Free tours of the facility are offered throughout the week.
Of historical significance, the table that was used during the meeting of the Fathers of Confederation in Quebec City during 1864 resides in the building's library, albeit with six feet of it removed. The Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories brought the table to Regina, which was the capital of the territory at the time. Six feet of the table length was removed from the middle so that it could be stored.
| Preceded by |
Tallest Building in Regina 1912-1927 53 m |
Succeeded by Hotel Saskatchewan |