As such, it displays a multitude of stone carvings, including gargoyles, grotesques, and friezes, keeping with the Victorian High Gothic style of the rest of the parliamentary complex.

It was placed at noon on 2 July 1917, to mark the 50th anniversary of Confederation,[5] and above it was carved the words:[6] 1867 July 1917 On the fiftieth anniversary of the Confederation of British Colonies in North America as the Dominion of Canada the Parliament and People dedicate this Building in process of reconstruction after damage by fire as a memorial of the deeds of their Forefathers and of the valour of those Canadians who in the Great War fought for the liberties of Canada, of the Empire and of Humanity.Around the central column is an inlaid marble floor with a 16-point windrose of Verde Antique serpentine from Roxbury, Vermont, and a swirl pattern of green serpentine from the Greek island of Tinos, embedded in Missisquoi Boulder Grey marble, from Philipsburg, Quebec.

Upon completion of this work, the tympanums were adorned with the coats of arms of Canada and the provinces, each surrounded by relevant floral symbols: on the east wall thistles for Nova Scotia, Tudor roses for Prince Edward Island, and grapes and apples for New Brunswick; on the south wall lilies, maple leaves, and Tudor roses for Newfoundland and Labrador, pine cones, oak leaves, and acorns for Nunavut, and maple leaves for British Columbia; on the west wall grapevines and apples for Saskatchewan, sunflowers, corn, and wheat for Alberta, and wheat and pine cones for Manitoba; and on the west wall sunflowers, wheat, and corn for Ontario, pine cones, oak leaves, and acorns for Canada, and Tudor roses for Quebec.

It is a long, rib vaulted space of Tyndall limestone divided into five bays by superimposed double arcades of lancet arches atop clustered columns on pedestals.

The hall is bisected by small, vaulted corridors, the east one leading to a committee room, and the west to the old reading room; the latter is known as the Correspondents' Entrance, as it is lined with bosses and label stops sculpted by Cléophas Soucy between 1949 and 1950 into the visages of ten notable parliamentary correspondents: Charles Bishop, Henri Bourassa, John Wesley Dafoe, Joseph Howe, Grattan O'Leary, Frank Oliver, John Ross Robertson, Philip Dansken Ross, Joseph Israël Tarte, and Robert S. White.

But the project was never completed and the works were stored at the National Gallery of Canada until, in 1921, parliament requested some of the collection's oil paintings on loan for display in the Centre Block.

A number are dedicated as the Sovereigns' Arches, with corbels sculpted into depictions of Canada's monarchs; the latest addition being that of Queen Elizabeth II, unveiled on 9 December 2010.

[27] The Queen unveiled a model at Rideau Hall on 30 June 2011 and, after the finished piece's installation, the window was dedicated by Governor General David Johnston on 7 February 2012.

[33] That canvas, sitting 14.7 m above the commons floor and designed in 1920 by the New York decorating firm Mack,[33] Jenney and Tyler, is painted with the heraldic symbols of the Canadian, provincial, and territorial coats of arms, with medallions at the intersections of diagonal stencilled bands in an argyle pattern.

[33] In the commons chamber's east and west walls are 12 windows topped by pointed arches with hood moulds terminated by pendant drops.

Each window contains approximately 2,000 pieces of hand-blown glass—created in Ottawa by Russell C. Goodman using medieval techniques—arranged in a Decorated Gothic style pattern designed by R. Eleanor Milne.

The room was the last space in the building to be carved, with sculptural work only beginning in the late 1950s and continuing intermittently for the following two decades; approximately 225 blocks of varying sizes still remain uncarved.

[3] Amongst the work done are three series of stone works: The British North America Act, a set of 12 high reliefs on the east and west walls of the chamber, carved between 1978 and 1985, and illustrating through symbols and narrative themes associated with the federal and provincial responsibilities laid out in the British North America Act;[38] Evolution of Life, a series of 14 sculptures within the spandrels of the pier-arches at the north and south ends of the House of Commons, depicting Canada's palaeontological past and the evolution of humanity through philosophy, science, and the imagination;[39] and Speakers and Clerks, comprising four heads carved on the jambs of the two doors on either side of the Speaker's chair, depicting the speakers and clerks of the House of Commons at the time of the opening of both parliament buildings in 1867 and 1920, respectively.

Directly south of the House of Commons is that room's foyer, a rectangular, two storey arcaded hall surrounded by clustered limestone piers and moulded arches that support an upper cloister lined with black marble posts.

[citation needed] The walls bear a series of 10 bas-relief panels showing 25,000 years of Canada's history and,[33] directly above, is a stone tracery ceiling with soft green coloured glass infill manufactured by the N.T.

It is a double height space done in a Beaux-Arts style, with a heavily coffered ceiling and, above a one story high, ashlar stone base, pilasters on the walls—all the aforementioned painted in a cream colour—between which are panels of moss green fabric, except where there are windows on the east wall.

[44] On 7 May 1859, the Department of Public Works for the Province of Canada sent a call for architects to submit proposals for the new parliament buildings to be erected on Barrack Hill.

After the 298 submitted entries were narrowed down to three, Governor General Sir Edmund Walker Head was approached to break the stalemate, and the winner was announced on 29 August 1859.

The Centre Block, departmental buildings, and a new residence for the governor general were each awarded separately, and the team of Thomas Fuller and Chilion Jones, under the pseudonym of Semper Paratus (Always Ready), won the prize for the first category with their Victorian High Gothic scheme with a formal, symmetrical front facing a quadrangle, and a more rustic, picturesque back facing the escarpment overlooking the Ottawa River.

[45] The groundbreaking took place on 20 December 1859; however, workers soon hit bedrock, which, combined with a change to the design that saw the foundation moved to 17 feet deeper, meant costly blasting.

The Ottawa Citizen said on 6 June of the upcoming event: [I]t will be the first occasion on which he will be publicly recognized as the Heir-Apparent and he will see in the demonstrations of the Canadians something of a political rather than of a personal and individual character[...] in after, when he occupies a more elevated position he will gratefully remember that his 'first appearance' as the representative of sovereign power and the warmth of feeling evinced towards him will make him more disposed to redress any grievances of the Canadians and more anxious to give his support to measures calculated to promote the prosperity of that country.

The stonework contained carved mouldings, sculpted foliage, real and mythical animals, grotesques, and emblems of France, England, Ireland, and Scotland, spread across and over pointed windows in various groupings, turrets, towers, and finials, while the roof was of grey and green slate, topped with iron cresting painted china blue with gilt tips.

[48] A fire alarm was raised in the Centre Block on 3 February 1916, at 8:37 pm; something had been seen smouldering in a wastepaper basket in the Reading Room, but as that was not terribly unusual, a clerk was called to assist.

'"[53] Reconstruction of the Centre Block began immediately, with a team of architects led by John A. Pearson and Jean-Omer Marchand overseeing a design much like the original, but expanded in size and pared down in ornament, more in keeping with the Beaux-Arts ethos of the time.

By 1 September 1916, less than seven months after the fire, the original cornerstone was relaid by the then governor general, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, exactly 56 years after his brother, the future King Edward VII, had done the same.

Similarly, the corridors and main chambers were still devoid of their decorative carvings, which would be completed over the ensuing fifty years, and it was not until Dominion Day of 1927 that the Peace Tower was dedicated by Governor General the Viscount Willingdon.

[54] On 18 May 1966, Paul Joseph Chartier killed himself as he left a Centre Block washroom by accidentally detonating the bomb he had been preparing to throw onto the floor of the House of Commons from the public galleries to, as he put it in his notes, "exterminate as many members as possible."

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau,[58] after fatally shooting Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a soldier mounting the guard of honour at the National War Memorial, made his way to Parliament Hill and to the Centre Block.

[59] There, he engaged in a firefight with Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons Kevin Vickers and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which ended when he was killed by RCMP Constable Curtis Barrett.

During parts of the renovation, a tarp named “trompe-l’œil” (trick of the eye) has been installed around the building to offer protection for workers and also is aesthetically pleasing for visitors.