Parliament Buildings

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Editor Pick

Wonderful Old Architecture

  • November 13, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by ak1 from Auburn, Washington
Wonderful Old Architecture

The Parliament Building in Victoria is quite fascinating to visit and best of all there are no entrance fees. The building is located right on the inner harbor and it’s near other major attractions. They offer free tours but the times vary depending on the season.

The building was completed in 1897 and opened in February 1898 and today it is used for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The original budget for the building was $500,000 but it ended up costing $923,000. The Legislative Library was added later between 1913 and 1920 and then that put total construction costs at 2 million. Seventy years later, in 1972 the government allowed for repairs and restoration on the building and the cost was eighty million and it took ten years to complete. The 3,330 outside light bulbs that still illuminate the building today was considered one of the first large scale electric light displays in it’s time.

On this visit to the Legislative Building we ended up doing a self guided tour but then caught the end of the guided tour at the Legislative Chamber. The architectural details inside this building are beautiful and interesting to see and read about. They have several intricate stained glass windows and the memorial rotunda is quite elaborate. If you get the chance I would recommend taking the guided tour because you’ll still have a chance to visit the building by yourself at the end of the tour. The only disappointing thing is that most of the building is blocked off to the public which is understandable but it’s still an amazing place to see.

From journal Victoria in the Fall

Victoria Parliament Building

  • July 19, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by ARNOLDA from GEORGETOWN, Ontario
Beautiful building, especially pretty at night when it is all lite up. If you can, find out about the narrated inside tours. I'm not sure if this is just when government isn't in session or whether they are offered year round. Best part, it's free!

From journal Vancouver Island Getaway

Editor Pick

Parliament Buildings

  • June 8, 2007
  • Rated 3 of 5 by moatway from Riverview, New Brunswick
Parliament Buildings

Victoria’s inner harbour is actually dominated by the Empress Hotel which is at the head of the harbour. The Parliament is huge and occupies much more spacious grounds, but it seems to play second fiddle. A visit won’t take long because not much is open to the public. You can poke about the building on your own, but I have to recommend the free tour (every half hour). We started the tour at the building entrance and moved around the building to a side entrance to move to the atrium under the impressive rotunda. There, you’re surrounded by the provincial crest and large murals depicting major events in British Columbia history. We see Vancouver and Quadra defining the Spanish-British boundary, the arrival of Sir James Douglas of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1852, and the building of Fort Victoria in 1853.

At that point, we were interrupted by Amor de Cosmos (played by an actor, of course). He had been lured to the California gold fields from his home in Windsor, Nova Scotia and it was there that he had his name changed from the more prosaic William Alexander Smith to Amor de Cosmos. Arriving in Victoria in 1858, he started a newsletter in which he was highly critical of Douglas (How could Douglas be the premier and the head of the HBC at the same time? Conflict of interest.) and his cohort, the "Hanging Judge", Begbie.

Amor de Cosmos would sit in the legislature and push to have British Columbia made a part of Confederation (1871) long before either Saskatchewan or Alberta. One of British Columbia’s most colourful figures, he was a true eccentric. Actually, perhaps a little too eccentric; he was declared insane two years before his death in 1897.

The rest of the visit was somewhat less exciting…a look at the stained glass windows celebrating Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee and Victoria’s 60 years. The Legislative Assembly was in session, so only the galleries were open, and the security is intense enough that I was not inclined to go in. So the visit was somewhat limited, but of course, the actor made a piece of British Columbia history come to life.

From journal Adventures in Lotusland: Victoria

Editor Pick

Parliament Buildings

  • April 19, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by btwood2 from Rodeo, New Mexico
Parliament Buildings

Splendor sine occasu is the motto on British Columbia’s coat of arms, and is found in many places within Victoria’s legislative buildings. The splendorous sun, setting into the Pacific Ocean washing coasts of mainland B.C. and its numerous islands, didn’t set on the British Empire during imperial times. The attractive coat of arms features shield with union jack and setting sun, crested with the Queen’s crowned gold lion. But the fierce wapiti stag and white bighorn sheep supporting the shield give it true local character, as do blooming branches of dogwood underneath and on the crest.

Young architect Francis Rattenbury entered and won the competition to build B.C.’s parliament buildings in 1893 shortly after his arrival from England, beating out 64 other architects, many greatly more experienced. Five years later, his "Imperial Garden of Eden", built way over budget, was ready for use. Rattenbury was to achieve further fame by building luxury Canadian Pacific Railway hotels, including the venerable Empress, just around the corner from Parliament, and lovely glass-roofed Crystal Gardens, a former bathing and amusement center built in1925.

Success didn’t bring Rattenbury happiness, however. After divorcing his wife and marrying his mistress, the much younger and talented Alma Pakenham, the couple moved to England. Sinking into alcoholism, Rattenbury was eventually beaten to death with a mallet by Alma’s teenaged lover. Alma committed dramatic suicide shortly thereafter, by stabbing herself in the heart and throwing herself into the River Avon.

Parliament is imposing from afar, viewed across a vast lawn and fountains, with its muted gray limestone and granite walls, arches and columns, and green copper domes. The tallest central dome is topped with a gold-gilt statue of Captain George Vancouver. A statue of Queen Victoria stands on a pedestal above street level at the edge of the lawns. Every night, more than 3300 light bulbs outline buildings, windows and domes of Parliament.

No less impressed by Parliament’s interior, we took one of the free tours that are offered every half hour during summer months. Tour guides range from the commonplace to would-be actors in period costume, affecting behavior and speech of imperial times. Beneath the gilded central dome lies an exquisite mosaic floor. Between the arched doorways are mural-style paintings depicting workers of the province, from farming and forest to fisheries. Virtually all the windows are stained glass and communicate some historically significant event or symbol.

On the walls near the entrance, hang 18 reproductions of architectural and technical drawings by Francis Rattenbury. In a nearby alcove, one can sit and view legislative sessions on a TV, beginning mid-September, when they reconvene. During summer, the red-carpeted multi-leveled legislative chambers sit empty.

Phone: 250-387-3046

From journal Victoria Heritage

Editor Pick

Parliament Buildings

  • April 18, 2002
  • Rated 4 of 5 by travel2000 from New York, New York
The Parliament Buildings were designed by the one and only Francis Rattenbury, architect of all imposing buildings in Victoria, and completed in 1898. These stone buildings are the backdrop of the skyline when viewed from Inner Harbour. You will first notice the enormous front lawn with the fountain, where tourists will assemble for pictures and kids will play in the grass. The night view is also very impressive, with thousands of lights outlining the buildings.

Most tourists would walk around the grounds and be content with admiring the buildings from the outside. However, there are free guided tours that leave every 30 minutes from the main steps. They will tell the full history of these buildings as well as interesting side notes from Canadian history. The buildings house beautiful stained glass, murals and some interesting monuments.

For more information, check out the official webside of the Parliament Buildings: www.parl-bldgs.gov.bc.ca/. There is a wonderful photo tour as well as indepth information about the history of the buildings and the architect.

From journal Beautiful Victoria

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