Parliamentary Library 'a jewel' after upgrade
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 | 4:07 PM ET
CBC Arts
Canada's Library of Parliament has officially reopened, after a four-year restoration and upgrade costing more than $136 million.
The mammoth undertaking was necessary to repair leaking windows, dangerous wiring and walls that were literally falling apart in the 130-year-old building.
"Although we were denied the loveliness of the library for a while, it was only in order to bring back the lustre to this jewel on the hill," said Peter Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons, at a ceremony Tuesday to mark the end of the work.
A statue of Queen Victoria sits in the middle of the newly renovated Parliament Hill library in Ottawa.
(Tom Hanson/CP)
The Victorian Gothic building, with its flying buttresses and copper roof, sits at the back of the existing Houses of Parliament, overlooking the Ottawa River.
The delicate restoration and upgrade was necessary because of concern about the library's unique collection of historic books and lack of space to store them, as well as the building's structure.
"I felt the building . . . needed some saving," said project director Mary Soper in an interview with CBC Television.
The work involved dismantling and rebuilding parts of the exterior and digging below the structure to create a large, climate-controlled space for books and documents. The copper roof has been replaced and parts of the exterior masonry rebuilt.
"We have touched everything on the building top to bottom, inside and out — we've brought it up to date," she said.
The aim was to make the building structurally sound and improve the lighting, without losing any of the charm that makes the building a favourite with tourists visiting the Houses of Parliament.
"The challenge here was the building did not have proper mechanical and electrical systems to not only conserve the bookshelves that are here, but also the collections which are among the most important in the country," said Architect Jozef Zorko.
The octagonal library, completed in 1876, is the only part of Canada's original Houses of Parliament to have survived a major fire in 1916.
A quick-thinking librarian closed the iron doors to the library as the fire burned through the Centre Block.
But the library itself had to be restored after a 1952 fire when water rained down on the books and documents.
The new library will have computers, photocopiers and other electronic equipment that have become essential components of a modern library, but still retains its old pine bookstacks, now restored, and its beautiful domed reading room.
It opens officially to the public on June 3 and 4, during Ottawa's Doors Open festival.
