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Fire of the Parliament Buildings
-- 4 February 1916
On the evening
of February 3, 1916, a mysterious fire engulfed the elegant Gothic-Revival
Centre Block of Parliament Hill. The intense flames consumed the building
rapidly with the interior of the central tower collapsing just after midnight.
While most were able to safely exit, the Ottawa Citizen reported that seven
people were known to have perished in the blaze. The Parliamentary Library,
and the priceless collection of books within, was fortuitously saved through
the closing of heavy metal doors which separated it from the rest of the
original Centre Block.
Many of the newspapers
of the day playing to public fears of German conspiracy immediately published
that the fire was a deliberate act of sabotage. The Toronto Globe reported
that while "officially" the cause of the fire was a carelessly
left cigar, "unofficial Ottawa, including many Members of Parliament,
declare ‘the Hun hath done this thing.’”
The Victoria Memorial
Museum, now the home of the Canadian Museum of Nature, was chosen as the
site for Parliament until the structure could be rebuilt. On September
1, 1916, the Governor General of Canada, His Royal Highness the Duke of
Connaught, laid the cornerstone for the new Centre Block.
This act was one of Connaught's last as Governor General as he soon left
Canada to a command in the British forces.
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Parliament Building Fire. Taken at 12:30 AM, a few minutes before the tower fell on February
4, 1916 |
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Firemen spraying water on the Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, February 4
1916 |
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Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ont. February 4, 1916 after the fire which started the
night before |
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Fathers
of Confederation, 50th Anniversary Stamp of Confederation 1917
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Speech
Given by His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught at the Re-Laying
of the Cornerstone of the Parliament Building, 1 September 1916 |
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I
would like to know more... |
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National Archives of Canada
Photographer: J.B. Reid
C-010079 |
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