The Queen's Gates (French : Porte de la Reine) is the formal entrance to Parliament Hill, [1] the location of the Canadian parliament buildings, in Ottawa, Ontario. Built in 1872 and set into the fence, known as the Wellington Wall, [2] [3] between piers designed in the Victorian High Gothic style that was fashionable in Canada at the time, the gates sit on the central axis of the hill's landscaping, in line with the Centennial Flame and Peace Tower beyond, and open onto Wellington Street.
By the early 1990s, neither the piers nor the ironwork had been properly renovated since their construction; salt from the street, the freeze-thaw cycle, and pollution had damaged and disintegrated the grout and stone faces. Thus, in 1992, Public Works and Government Services Canada began a $5 million restoration project of the entire fence along Wellington, which included the Queen's Gates. The piers were fully repointed and stabilised, including their foundations, and the gates were restored and partly rebuilt by a blacksmith. [2]
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the House of Commons is dominant, with the Senate rarely opposing its will. The Senate reviews legislation from a less partisan standpoint and may initiate certain bills. The monarch or his representative, normally the governor general, provides royal assent to make bills into law.
Parliament Hill, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose architectural elements were chosen to evoke the history of parliamentary democracy. Parliament Hill attracts approximately three million visitors each year. The Parliamentary Protective Service is responsible for law enforcement on Parliament Hill and in the parliamentary precinct, while the National Capital Commission is responsible for maintaining the nine-hectare (22-acre) area of the grounds.
Rideau Hall is the official residence in Ottawa of both the governor general of Canada and the Canadian monarch. It stands in Canada's capital on a 36-hectare (88-acre) estate at 1 Sussex Drive, with the main building consisting of approximately 175 rooms across 9,500 square metres (102,000 sq ft), and 27 outbuildings around the grounds. Rideau Hall's site lies outside the centre of Ottawa. It is one of two official vice-regal residences maintained by the federal Crown, the other being the Citadelle of Quebec.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a tomb situated before the National War Memorial in Confederation Square, Ottawa, Ontario. The tomb is dedicated to Canadian service members, and holds the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier who died in France during the First World War; selected from a Commonwealth War Grave near Vimy, in the vicinity where the Battle of Vimy Ridge took place.
The Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council building, formerly known as the Langevin Block, is an office building facing Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. As the home of the Privy Council Office and Office of the Prime Minister, it is the working headquarters of the executive branch of the Canadian government.
The Senate of Canada Building is a government building and former railway station that serves as the temporary seat of the Senate of Canada. Located at 2 Rideau Street in downtown Ottawa, it was known as Ottawa Union Station and served as the city's central railway station from 1912 until 1966. From 1966 to 2018, it was operated by the Government of Canada as the Government Conference Centre. The building currently includes a temporary Senate chamber, as well as some Senate offices and committee rooms.
The Confederation Building is a office building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Located just west of the Parliament Buildings at Bank Street and Wellington Street, it is generally considered part of Parliament Hill.
The Wellington Building is a Beaux-Arts architecture office building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was built between 1924 and 1927 as Canadian headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The original structure was designed by D. Everett Waid; in 1959, the more restrained classical east wing of the building was added.
The Library of Parliament 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, Ontario. The library survived the 1916 fire that destroyed Centre Block. The library has been augmented and renovated several times since its construction in 1876, the last between 2002 and 2006, though the form and decor remain essentially authentic. The building today serves as a Canadian icon, and appears on the obverse of the Canadian ten-dollar bill.
The Portrait Gallery of Canada is a federally-registered not-for-profit corporation that currently has no collection or physical presence.
The Bytown Museum is a museum in Ottawa located in the Colonel By Valley at the Ottawa Locks of the Rideau Canal at the Ottawa River, just below Parliament Hill. Housed in the Commissariat Building, Ottawa's oldest remaining stone building, the museum provides a comprehensive overview of the origins of Bytown and its development and growth into the present city of Ottawa.
The Centre Block 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, senators, and senior administration for both legislative houses. It is also the location of several ceremonial spaces, such as the Hall of Honour, the Memorial Chamber, and Confederation Hall.
The Ontario Legislative Building is a structure in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It houses the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and the viceregal suite of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and offices for members of the provincial parliament (MPPs). The building is surrounded by Queen's Park, sitting on that part south of Wellesley Street, which is the former site of King's College, which was leased from the university by the municipal government of Toronto in 1859, for a "peppercorn" payment of CAD$1 per annum on a 999-year term. The southern portion of the site was later handed over to the provincial government.
The Sir John A. Macdonald Building is a former bank building in Ottawa now owned by the federal government of Canada. It is located at 144 Wellington Street, at the corner of O'Connor Street, with a third frontage on Sparks Street, just in front of West Block of Parliament. Its façade indicates its former heritage as a Bank of Montreal branch location.
The East Block is one of the three buildings on Canada's Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, containing offices for parliamentarians, as well as some preserved pre-Confederation spaces.
The Centennial Flame is a monument on Parliament Hill commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. First lit in January 1967, the Flame worked with natural gas and as of 2021 uses biogas, presenting a fountain that does not freeze in winter. Money thrown into it is a donation for people with disabilities, some of whom have received over $5,000.
The West Block is one of the three buildings on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario. Since 28 January 2019, it has housed the interim House of Commons Chamber, installed to accommodate the House while the Centre Block is closed. The West Block also houses offices for parliamentarians, a branch of the Library of Parliament, committee rooms, and some preserved pre-Confederation spaces.
The Parliament Hill Rehabilitation is a series of ongoing rehabilitation and preservation projects at the complex on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario. The $3-billion project aims to preserve and rehabilitate the Parliament of Canada and various buildings within the Parliamentary Precinct.
The Canadian Parliament Buildings are the parliament buildings housing the Parliament of Canada, located on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
The Indigenous Peoples Space is a building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, designated for the use of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. The building is located at 100 Wellington Street in Block 2 of Canada's Parliamentary precinct, immediately south of Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa. The current Beaux-Arts building on site was built in 1931 to house the first permanent United States Embassy in Canada, but was abandoned for a new location in 1999.