I NSIDE THE ASSEMBLY THE NSIDE Manitoba Legislative Building TO THE MANITOBA LEGISLATIVE BUILDING isitors are always made welcome at our magnificent VLegislative Building. When the Legislative Assembly is in session everyone is invited to watch the HISTORY proceedings from the vantage point of the Public Gallery. Our tour guides Manitoba’s Legislative Building will be happy to show you the rest of the building so you can share in its anitoba’s Legislative earliest Assemblies met in a house fascinating history and architecture. Building is known to be one that had been previously owned Mof the finest public buildings by notable businessman, Appointments for guided tours are in North America. This building A. G. Bannatyne. This refurbished required from September to June. accommodates the Legislative log structure burnt down only two From July 1 to Labour Day long Assembly, its committees and staff, years later. The second Legislative weekend in September, tours are as well as the offices of the Premier, Building, which was situated on offered on an hourly basis from 9:00 the Lieutenant Governor, the the northeast corner of the current am – 4:00 pm daily. The Legislative Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Legislative grounds, was first Building is wheelchair accessible, government departments. occupied in 1884. This building including the Public Gallery. was demolished in 1920 in order To book an appointment, The current Legislative Building is to facilitate the landscaping of please call 204-945-5813. the third edifice occupied by the the grounds for Manitoba’s third Manitoba Legislative Assembly. Legislative Building. Beginning in March of 1871, the 2 3 WELCOME hotos of the first two Legislative Buildings, Pas well as photos from the construction of the third Legislative Building including proposed landscaping are located in the northwest hallway on the main floor. t the turn of the twentieth England, had produced the design century, members of the most expressive of the concepts laid Aprovincial government down for the competition. were unanimous in their desire to construct a building that would Excavation began in 1913. By the serve as a symbol for the people outbreak of the First World War of Manitoba. The government at in 1914, walls were beginning to the time of construction found take shape above the foundation. that Victoria Era art critic John However, a shortage of materials, Ruskin’s thoughts on ambition labour, and funds delayed and architecture rang true. They construction so much that the envisioned a building designed building did not become available “not for present delight nor use for partial occupancy until 1919, alone…but such as our descendants well after the end of the Great will thank us for.” War. On July 15, 1920, the 50th anniversary of Manitoba’s entry into These sentiments were embodied Confederation, Lieutenant Governor in the rules of the architectural Sir James Aikins, officially opened competition that was announced the Legislative Building. by the Government of Manitoba in 1911. A prize of $10,000 was a priceless monument offered for the best design and Symbolism and tributes are all architects in the British Empire abundantly embedded in every were invited to participate. It was detail of this priceless monument. eventually determined that of the It is quite unlikely that such a project 67 original submissions, Frank could ever again be undertaken. Worthington Simon of Liverpool, 4 5 Public Gallery he base of this remarkable ne of Manitoba’s best known structure forms a letter “H,” symbols, the Golden Boy, is Ta shape that is repeated THE Oa magnificently gilded figure with each of the floors, creating an GOLDEN stretching 17.2 feet (5.25 meters) Rotunda 3 area excluding hallways measuring Bridge from toe to torch tip. He is made of approximately 24,969 square meters bronze and was painted gold in 1948. (268,783 square feet). The imposing In 1951 he was gilded with 23.5 karat dome that crowns the structure Grand gold leaf for the first time and then reaches 68 meters (223 feet 7 inches) Staircase again in 2002 with 24 karat gold leaf. FLOOR above the main floor. The 1,650 kilogram (3,640 pound), Heritage-Settlement Plaques Speakers’ hollow figure reaches 242 feet The exterior walls and the majority of Gallery (73 meters) above the Pool of the Chamber the building’s interior are constructed Black Star. Before the construction of Tyndall limestone, quarried at of the high-rise buildings that today Garson, 50 kilometers (31 miles) form the city’s skyline, the tip of the northeast of Winnipeg. This Rotunda Golden Boy’s torch was the highest beautifully mottled stone contains 2 point in Winnipeg. Grand embedded fossils of invertebrates, Staircase providing subtle reminders of the Embodying the spirit of enterprise semi-tropical sea that 450 to 500 and eternal youth, the Golden million years ago, extended over Boy is captured mid-stride atop much of what is now Manitoba. FLOOR the building’s dome. Similar to the messengers in Greek mythology, he The Legislative Building is located bears a message - his message is of immediately south of downtown coming prosperity for all Manitobans. Winnipeg in the center of 12 hectares Hall of Honour Hall of (30 acres) of landscaped grounds. Gallery Members’ Formal flowerbeds and both native Pool of the Black Star and imported shrubs and trees are 1 facing the north, Grand planted in groups interspersed with Staircase he sees the province’s shaded walkways and rolling lawns. bright future as Government House, the residence of Milestones Construction Plaques Photos linked to manitoba’s the Lieutenant Governor, occupies Lobby Security bountiful resources: the southeast corner of the grounds. FLOOR mining, fishing, forestry, fur and The Assiniboine River - once a hydroelectricity. A sheaf of golden highway for Aboriginal peoples, wheat representing the well-earned explorers, fur traders, and steamboats fruits of labour rests in his left arm - traces the southern boundary of the while in his right hand he holds high a grounds. Osborne Street, Kennedy torch, representing a call to Manitoba’s youth to join him in his eternal pursuit Manitoba History Wall History Manitoba Street, and Broadway (roadways for Gallery Keystone BOY of a more prosperous future. modern travelers) border the grounds on the three remaining sides. 6 7 BASEMENT he Golden Boy was sculpted However, before the ship could go by Mr. Georges Gardet in out to sea, it was commandeered for Tthe Barbedienne Foundry war purposes. For the remainder of in France, 112 km (69.6 miles) the War, the Golden Boy lay in the northeast of Paris. The foundry was hold of the ship, travelling thousands partially destroyed by bombs during of kilometers in constant danger. the First World War, but from the The Golden Boy finally landed in ruins the statue emerged unscathed. North America at the conclusion of The figure was then rushed to a the War and was then shipped by rail seaport and placed aboard a French to Winnipeg, where it was hoisted to ship bound for the United States. the top of Manitoba’s new Legislative Building on November 21, 1919. A light was installed in the Golden Boy’s torch to mark Canada’s centenary in 1967 and Manitoba’s entry into Confederation in 1870. The torch was lit for the first time at 3 pm on December 31, 1966. On February 9, 2002, the Golden Boy was removed from the top of the building for the first time since his installation in 1919. After extensive repairs, and the removal of the light, he returned to his home atop the Legislative Building on September 5th, 2002, where he stands as a GR AND reminder to all Manitobans of the potential of their province. STAIRCASE t is impossible to step inside the Legislative Building for the first Itime without being struck by er Majesty Queen Elizabeth II the majesty of the Grand Staircase. officially rededicated the Golden Composed of 39 steps in three sets HBoy on October 8, 2002 during of 13, the stairs are honed of Italian her visit to Manitoba to celebrate her brown-veined Botticcino marble, Golden Jubilee. considered to be the finest marble in the world. 8 9 he third floor facing the Grand Staircase Tis supported by four columns sculpted to resemble the caryatids (sculpted female figures used as a pillar) found in the Porch of Maidens in the Erechtheum of Athens, Greece, which dates to 408 BC. Despite the beauty of these figures, such sculptures wo life-size North American An intriguing story surrounds the were not common in Plains bison flank the base of installation of these bison. It is said Greek architecture, as it Tthe steps, representing the that in order to diminish the risk of was considered improper herds that once roamed the prairies. scratching the building’s exquisite to have a statue appear marble floors with these massive to bear a weight that the They were designed by the creator sculptures, both bison were placed human body would be of the Golden Boy, Georges Gardet on enormous slabs of ice cut from incapable of supporting. of Paris, who also created the statues the Assiniboine River and then were The figures located on the of Moses and Solon in the Legislative safely slid into the building. third floor were sculpted Assembly. The bison, each weighing by the Piccirilli Brothers 2,268 kilograms (5,000 pounds), of New York using models were cast at Roman Bronze Works in prepared by Albert Hodge New York City. of London, England. 10 11 also repeated throughout the building is the n antechamber at the head number 13, of the Grand Staircase as seen, for instance, in the provides a formal approach A number of bulbs in the Roman to the Legislative Assembly.