MOSAIC FLOORS
OF THE WEST WING
OF THE ONTARIO LEGISLATURE

Article and Photographs by Karen Bennett

A slightly different version of this article appeared in the Fall 2004 issue of In House, a newsletter by and for staff of the Ontario Legislative Assembly, Toronto.

The Queen's Park Legislative Building, opened in 1893, was designed by Richard A. Waite, a Buffalo-based architect, in the Romanesque style.

After the disastrous fire of September 1, 1909 gutted the west wing, Toronto architect E.J. Lennox was commissioned for the rebuilding, while George Gouinlock was given the task of designing a library wing on the north side. Lennox added two floors to the west wing and redesigned the corridors and galleries in a marble/classical style known as Beaux-Arts. Marble had the added advantage, in Lennox's eyes, of being more fireproof than the wood of the central block and east wing.

The Beaux-Arts style, which flourished in France and North America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was characterized by its formal planning and rich decoration. It corresponds in a number of ways with the well-known Art Nouveau style (about 1890 to 1914). Both movements were dedicated to natural forms and rooted in high-quality handicraft. The Beaux-Arts style became obsolete after 1918, in part because of a labour shortage.

My research wasn't able to dig up much information about the mosaics in the west wing of the Legislature, so some of this article had to be based on personal observations and my "unofficial" terms for the designs.

The mosaic floors in the west wing are composed of grey/white marble tiles enclosed by panels and borders in the shape of spirals, flowers, trees and waves picked out in russet, yellow and green. In large areas such as gallery floors rectangular panels of spirals break up the space. The borders are in two styles that alternate from one floor to another: a "tree" pattern (on the first, third and fifth floors) and a "wave" pattern (second and fourth floors). On the half-landings of the stairwells, the pattern is the same as the one on the floor above.

For a number of decades, the mosaics were lost from view once the west wing corridors were carpeted in the 1950s. Between 1997 and 2000, the carpets were removed and the mosaics were restored where necessary.

Arthur, Eric. From Front Street to Queen’s Park: The Story of Ontario’s Parliament Buildings. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979.

Dale, Clare A. "The Palaces of Government": A History of the Legislative Buildings of the Provinces of Upper Canada, Canada and Ontario, 1792-1992. Toronto: Ontario Legislative Library, 1993.

Hall, Roger. A Century to Celebrate/Un Centenaire à fêter, 1893-1993. Toronto and Oxford: Dundurn Press, 1993.

Ontario. Legislative Assembly. Special Committee on the Parliamentary Precinct. A Time for Renewal: Restoration Master Plan for the Ontario Legislative Assembly Building and Grounds. Toronto, 1991.

The Parliament Buildings, 1893-1963. [Toronto: s.n., 1963?]