Celebrating its 100th birthday on October 11, 2012, this building has admirably served the citizens of Saskatchewan for over 100 years. It has held up well, major renovations not having been carried out until 1997.
|
|
Shiny New Dome |
The building was built in the Beaux Arts style by P. Lyall & Sons, of Montreal, to a design by Frederick G. Todd of Montreal. Later P. Lyall & Sons also built the Centre Block of the federal Parliament Building in Ottawa after the original Parliament Building, built in 1866, was destroyed by fire in 1916.
The cornerstone for this majestic building was laid by the Governor General of Canada, His Excellency Earl Grey on October 4th 1909. It is placed for all who enter The Legislature to see between the left two doors of the main entrance.
The legislative building and its grounds were designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2005. It is also a Provincial Heritage Property. It is also the largest provincial capital building in Canada.
After enduring 100 years of "Saskatchewan's freeze-thaw cycle", the dome of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building had deteriorated substantially, finally resulting in necessary renovation work taking place. Ongoing for well over a year with the dome under a protective cover, the project was finally complete in May of 2016, with the cover being removed over the next month, revealing the shiny new copper dome. CBC news, as one would expect, was able to air a story on the project, excerpts from which can be read below.
Shiny copper dome atop the Saskatchewan Legislature unveiled
CBC News Posted: May 16, 2016 4:30 AM CT
On Monday evening, the wraps finally came off at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building and a shiny new dome was unveiled.
For well over a year, renovations have been underway at the dome and the structure has been covered with scaffolding and white plastic. Some $21 million has been spent on the upgrade.
For project manager Jerrod Keuler, the unveiling has been a long time coming, especially considering the amount of material and manpower exerted to get the dome restored.
"There's about 28,000 pounds of copper and 22,000 pounds of stone," Keuler siad. "There is about 174,000 pounds of steel that made the temporary structure in general."
For many, passing the Saskatchewan Legislature hasn't been the same after the original dark copper dome was covered making way for the restoration.
Steve Bata is the building manager for the Saskatchewan Legislature, he said the reason behind this extensive restoration and repair was due to the damaging effects of Saskatchewan's freeze-thaw cycle.
"Water gets in behind stone or copper and then it freezes and blows out stone and it was damaging our stone and concrete and damaging the copper and it was causing all kinds of grief," Bata said.
From CBC News