Manitoba Legislative Building


The Manitoba Legislative Building, originally named the Manitoba Parliament Building, is the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, located in central Winnipeg, as well as being the twelfth provincial heritage site of Manitoba. Along with the Legislative Assembly, the building also accommodates the offices for Manitoba's Lieutenant Governor and the Executive Council.
The neoclassical, Beaux-Arts-style building was completed in 1920 along with its famed Golden Boy, a gold-covered bronze statue based on the style of the Roman god Mercury that sits at the top of the building's cupola. Standing at tall, it was designed and built by Frank Worthington Simon and Henry Boddington III, along with other masons and many skilled craftsmen. With the abolition of the Legislative Council in 1876, the third building has a single chamber.

History

The current building is the third facility used by Manitoba's legislative assembly. The first was a log structure located at the residence of A.G.B. Bannatyne at Main Street and McDermot Avenue until its destruction by fire in 1873. Temporary facilities were used until 1884, when the second building was opened north of Government House, on the same grounds as the current Legislative Building. With the opening of the third Legislative Building, the second building was no longer required. It was thus used as classroom space for the nearby University of Manitoba until 1920, when it was demolished. On the site of this building was also a statue of Queen Victoria which was commissioned after her death in 1904 for C$15,000.
By 1909, Manitoba sought a larger and more impressive building for its legislature, considering the province's booming economy and population that had expanded sevenfold since 1881. In its 1911 annual report, the Department of Public Works said that the "congested state of all the Departments in the Legislative Buildings renders necessary the erection of more commodious buildings at the earliest possible date."
In 1911, the Manitoba government announced an architectural competition to all architects who were subjects of the British Empire. A grand prize of C$10,000 and a commission of $100,000 was offered for the best design for the new Manitoba Legislative Building. The cost for the new building was to be $2,000,000. Of the 67 submissions, Frank Worthington Simon, a former student at the École des Beaux-Arts, had his design chosen for the construction of the impressive structure.

Construction

Construction began in the summer of 1913, with excavation work beginning in July. After five weeks of excavation, removing of soil in 31 days, the site for the building was moved south and the terrace adjacent to the building was raised by. Manitoba Tyndall stone was quarried at Garson, Manitoba, about northeast of Winnipeg. By 1914, 1,231 architectural drawings had been created for the project. On 3 June 1914, the north-east cornerstone ceremony, which was commonly done by masons, was laid by contractor Thomas Kelly.
The construction of the massive building suffered setbacks, however, and took almost 7 years to complete. Obstacles included labour and funding shortages brought on by the First World War, as well as labour unrest during the Winnipeg General Strike. Construction was further slowed due to Kelly stealing many of the materials to build his own house three blocks away. Such scandal inspired a royal commission calling to investigate the building's construction, subsequently bring on the resignation of a Premier Rodmond Roblin and a change of government. As result of the above circumstances in part, the building was not ready for partial occupancy until 1919.
The Golden Boy was installed in November 1919. On the west side of the grounds were the Fort Osborne Barracks and Drill Shed, which were not demolished until after the Legislature was completed.
Final costs of the construction were at C$9,379,000: an itemized statement issued by the Department of Public Works included $150,000.00 for furnishings and finishings; $219,551.29 for plumbing, heating and ventilation; $157,172.72 for electrical work; and $296,023.59 for repairing defective work.

Post-construction

Government departments and staff moved into the building prior to its formal completion. Among others, the east and west ends of the North Wing had been closed in and occupied by the Comptroller-General, Game Guardian, Noxious Weeds Commissioner, and the Superintendent of Buildings and Moving Picture Censor Board. In 1917, half the basement, 3 floors in the northeast wing, and 1 in the northwest wing were occupied. Though not complete, the interior would be in enough shape that the forthcoming Legislature session could be held in the building with reasonable amount of comfort. The Assembly would therefore have its first meeting in the new building on 22 January 1919, using the new chamber until 27 March, after which it was finally decorated.
In September 1919, the building was unofficially opened by the Prince of Wales during a reception held in his honour. On 15 July 1920, on the 50th anniversary of Manitoba's entry into Confederation, opening ceremonies were performed by Sir James Aikins, then Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba.
During the Great Depression, a portion of the Legislature's grounds was given over to vegetable gardens. A total of 82 plots for unemployed men were laid out in the spring of 1935.
On 12 May 1989, the building was designated as Manitoba Provincial Heritage Site by Bonnie Mitchelson, the province's Minister of Culture, Heritage and Recreation.

Later events

One of the building's many plaques, commemorating Manitoba's entrance into confederation, went missing in October 1974.
In June 1994, work began on repairing the steps at all four entrances of the building. On 4 October 1995, Governor General Roméo LeBlanc officially opened the Manitoba Plaza on the south grounds of the building, commemorating the 125th anniversary of the province.
The Legislative Building has been used many times as a set for films and television productions, including The Diviners in 1990 and Capote in 2004. Along with being used as a library, the Reading Room has been used to portray a courtroom and law office. The 2003 Governor General's New Year's Message was recorded in the Reading Room.
In the summer of 2002, the building's outer dome received new copper sheathing.
In 2014, the local government stressed about the state of deterioration of the building to the level of life safety concerns. Tree roots, insects and bird feces are identified as the main threats to the building's longevity. However, the cost of reconstruction today would be prohibitive, due to such factors as a shortage of skilled masons.
Both the interior and exterior skylights over the Grand Staircase were replaced in 2012. In March 2015, a military hall of honour opened in the Legislative Building commemorating the Manitoba's regiments who fought World War I. In 2016, work began on the building's first gender-neutral washroom.
In November 2007, Manitoba became the first legislature in the country to install an accessibility ramp at its front entrance. Nonetheless, in May 2017, Rick Hansen criticized the accessibility of the building after MLA Steven Fletcher gave him an official tour. In response, the Chamber was made wheelchair accessible in that very summer. The Chamber floor was raised, front-row desks were moved forward to allow wheelchair access between the first two rows, and a ramp was installed on the opposition side of the house. The renovation received a Heritage Winnipeg Conservation Award in 2018.
On 22 January 2020, the province celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first session of the Manitoba Legislature held in the Chamber of the Manitoba Legislative Building.

Material and dimensions

and marbles are used throughout the building, both including such fossils as sponges, gastropods, cephalopods, and trilobites. The largest fossil, found at the east portico, is 1 m wide and 30 cm high.
The estimated weight of the building, constructed with a steel frame, is 243,851,258 kg.
Throughout the exterior and interior of the building are examples of Fibonacci Sequence, Golden Ratio and Sacred Geometry. There are two domes to the building: the outer dome; and an inner dome which is seen when standing in the Rotunda. A tunnel running under Winnipeg's Broadway Avenue connects the Legislative Building with the city's central powerhouse. It is part of a publicly-inaccessible system of tunnels linking other provincial government buildings with the powerhouse, which supplies heat to all these buildings.

Exterior

The total area of the building is, with a total height of above ground level, topped with a bronze statue of Roman God Mercury gilded with 23.75-karat gold leaf.
The outer dome is supported by four compound girders that weigh 98,557 kg each.
The Legislative grounds cover of landscaped grounds. The building rests on 421 concrete caissons, which pass through of glacial Lake Agassiz clays before hitting limestone bedrock.
Exterior steps were made from Butler granite quarried in Ontario. In contrast, most of the statuary uses Bedford Limestone from Indiana, which is the oldest stone in the building, dating to slightly more than 2.5 billion years ago.

Interior

The building's floor area is, containing about. The basic floor plan of the building forms the letter H contained in a rectangle.
Marbles that were used in the building contain fossils, and include Tennessee marble for flooring, Botticino marble from Italy for the Grand Staircase, and Ordovician Black Marble, likely from Vermont, for other interior decorative purposes. According to Frank Worthington Simon, the building's architect, hardwoods used for doors and trim included birch for the basement, oak for the first and third floors, and walnut for the second floor. Moreover, pneumatic clocks, controlled by a central clock, were installed throughout the building, and elements in the building's electric light fixtures include clawed and cloven feet, cobras, and lion heads.