The P��������� P�������� GREAT FIRE of 1916 CANADA
on Parliament Hill #SenCA
February 3, 1916 The House of Commons is filled with Members of Parliament attending an evening session of Parliament.
8:55 p.m. Parliament Hill before the fire of February 3, 1916 Credit: Topley Studio Fonds / Library and Archives Canada / PA-008336 Fire starts on one of the lower shelves of a desk in the Reading Room. 8:59 p.m. First fire engine arrives on the Hill. Fire is already engulfing the roof of Centre Block. 9:00 p.m. Chief Doorkeeper of the HoC, runs into the House of Commons chamber, yelling, 9:01 p.m. “There is a big fire in the Reading Librarian Michael Connolly MacCormac Room; everybody get out quickly!” dispatches a messenger to close the Library’s iron doors, protecting the Library from fire. 9:02 p.m. Fire bursts through the doors of the Reading Room and into 9:07 p.m. the hallways surrounding the HoC. HoC Speaker Albert Sévigny runs upstairs to help his wife and young children, who are asleep in their nursery, escape to safety.
9:20 p.m. Albert Sévigny Members of the 77th Battalion, who were dining at Credit: Library and Archives Canada / PA-005103 the nearby Château Laurier, rush to Parliament to provide rescue assistance and crowd-control. 10:15 p.m. Fire spreads to the roof of the Library and sweeps towards the centre of the building. 11:30 p.m. Prime Minister Borden meets with members of his Cabinet at a suite in the Château Laurier to discuss a plan of action on how to continue parliamentary functions.
Centre Block fire, photograph taken at 12:30 a.m., a few minutes before the collapse of the Victoria Tower. Credit: John Boyd / Library and Archives Canada / RD-000240
February 4, 1916 12:00 a.m. Bell in the Victoria Tower crashes to the ground on the 12:45 a.m. final stroke of midnight. Fire rages towards the Senate side of the building.
2:00 a.m. Firefighters get the fire under control.
Credit: Library and Archives Canada / PA-052822 10:00 a.m. Fire flares up again in the East Wing, ashes continue to smolder throughout the day.
3:00 p.m. House of Commons convenes in the atrium of the Victoria Memorial Museum (now the Canadian Museum of Nature). 8:00 p.m. House of Commons mace was destroyed. One final flare-up of fire, Senate’s mace is borrowed. again in the East Wing but it is easily put out.
Opening session of the House of Commons Parliament buildings after the 1916 fire. at the Victoria Memorial Museum Credit: William Charron / Library and Archives Canada / PA-030245 after the Parliament buildings fire of 1916. Credit: Library and Archives Canada / PA-139684
“In Memoriam” Mme. Morin, guest of Mme Sévigny Alphonse Desjardins, steamfitter Mme. Bray, guest of Mme Sévigny MP Bowman Brown Law Randolph Fanning, post o ce Assistant Clerk J.B.R. Laplante Alphonse Desjardins, police constable
The e orts of firefighters to contain the fire on the House of Commons side resulted in the salvaging of many works of art from the Senate side of the building.
The portrait of Queen Victoria Saved from fire four times, this royal portrait hangs in the Senate foyer.
Construction of the new Centre Block began in the midst of the First World War. The new structure was completed in 1922 and the Peace Tower was finished later, in 1927.
Reconstruction of the Centre Block, August 29, 1916 Credit: Library and Archives Canada / PA-130625
Prince of Wales' visit to Canada - laying the cornerstone of the Peace Tower on Sept. 1 1919. Credit: Topley Studio / Library and Archives Canada / PA-034006
Centre Block today
Sources: Library of Parliament • Library and Archives Canada P��������� P��������
CANADA www.parl.gc.ca #SenCA