The Queen's Gates (French: Porte de la Reine) is the formal entrance to Parliament Hill,[1] the location of the Canadian parliament buildings, in Ottawa, Ontario. Built in 1872 and set into the fence, known as the Wellington Wall,[2][3] between piers designed in the Victorian High Gothic style that was fashionable in Canada at the time, the gates sit on the central axis of the hill's landscaping, in line with the Centennial Flame and Peace Tower beyond, and open onto Wellington Street.
By the early 1990s, neither the piers nor the ironwork had been properly renovated since their construction; salt from the street, the freeze-thaw cycle, and pollution had damaged and disintegrated the grout and stone faces. Thus, in 1992, Public Works and Government Services Canada began a $5 million restoration project of the entire fence along Wellington, which included the Queen's Gates. The piers were fully repointed and stabilised, including their foundations, and the gates were restored and partly rebuilt by a blacksmith.[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Public Works and Government Services Canada. "A Treasure to Explore > Parliament Hill > The History of Parliament Hill > Construction, 1859-1916". Queen's Printer for Canada. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
- ^ a b Waghorn, Noel (30 January 2004). "Parliament wall gets an extreme makeover". Capital News. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
- ^ Bosc, Marc; O'Brien, Audrey (2009), "The Parliament Buildings and Grounds", House of Commons Procedure and Practice (2 ed.), Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada, ISBN 978-2-89635-321-7
External links
edit- M.H. Stoneworks Inc. images of the Queen's Gates and restoration thereof