Ottawa — Bytown, Parliament & the Rideau Canal
Parliament Hill
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
Listen
Transcript
Canada's Parliament Buildings were begun after Ottawa was chosen as the capital in 1857. Their Gothic Revival style deliberately separated the new political centre from classical republican architecture associated with the United States.
The present Centre Block is largely a twentieth-century rebuilding. Fire destroyed the original Centre Block in 1916 while Parliament was sitting. Seven people died, and the legislature moved temporarily to what is now the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Legend sometimes blames the 1916 fire on German sabotage because it occurred during the First World War. No conclusive evidence established sabotage; the cause remains uncertain.
That uncertainty is worth preserving. Historic drama does not require conspiracy.
Parliament is designed to look permanent. Its actual history is full of rebuilding, temporary chambers and constitutional improvisation.