Seat of Canada's Government.
Posted by: 
abacab
N 45° 25.500 W 075° 42.000
18T E 445238 N 5030402
A neo-gothic building built and rebuilt in stages.
Waymark Code: WM509
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 12/16/2005
Views: 157
Canada's Parliament Buildings were built between 1859 and 1866 after Ottawa was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1857 to become Canada's capital. Ottawa was an odd choice, being a rough and tumble lumber town, much smaller than centres such as Toronto, Montreal or even Kingston. Ottawa was chosen for it's natural beauty and location. At the time it was located next to the border between Upper and Lower Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) placing it in the centre of the new country. Other provinces joined Confederation after the capital was chosen.
The original buildings on fire Feb 4, 1916.
On February 4th 1916 a small fire spread quickly through the original centre block building. A quick thinking employee closed the doors to the library wing at the rear of the centre block, and further destruction was avoided. The East and West block buildings were not affected by this fire. Parliament sat at the Victoria Museum until 1922 when the centre block was rebuilt. In 1927 the Peace tower was completed. This was a much nicer and larger tower than the original Victoria Tower which was destroyed in the fire.
All that remained was the library after the fire.