History, Art and Architecture Parliamentary buildings Present House of Commons Chamber

House of Commons Chamber

The interim Chamber in West Block is comparatively modern in its design, but still distinctly Canadian in its decoration.

Repurposed Furnishings

Government and Opposition Members sit on opposite sides of the Chamber at familiar oak desks, repurposed from the Parliament Building as it undergoes rehabilitation. The Speaker’s Chair is, fittingly, the same one used in the temporary Commons Chamber in the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, after fire destroyed the original Parliament Building in 1916.

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Objects from the collection

O-7340.1

1917-1921 The Honourable Edgar Nelson Rhodes

1917/01/18

Bromsgrove Guild (Canada) Limited

O-1929

desk (member's)

1920

John Andrew Pearson • George Roberts

O-4649

chair (member's)

1992

Galt Furniture Limited • SUBAR Textiles Ltd.

O-5995

desk (member's)

1919/12/04

Valley City Seating Company • John Andrew Pearson

O-8186

desk (member's)

2006/04/30

House of Commons (Trades Services)

O-8842

chair (member's)

2015/09/21

House of Commons (Trades Services)

Atrium

The Chamber sits in what was a central courtyard of West Block, now an atrium covered by a spectacular glass roof. A frame of steel columns alludes to the stone columns of the Parliament Building. LED lighting and louvered sunshades help to naturally control light and temperature inside. The space is open and airy, but at the same time makes clear its location on Parliament Hill through stone walls and the green copper roofline.

Complementary Contrast

All of this creates a mutually complementary contrast with the neo-Gothic stone walls of the original building, with a trim of the classic copper roof just visible above.

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