Interior Work The Most Beautiful Room in Canada

Floor Dome Statue Stacks Basements

The Reading Room of the Library of Parliament—the building’s magnificent central space—has often been called “the most beautiful room in Canada” for its grandeur and ornamentation. Yet virtually everything from the plastered dome above to the intricate parquet floor and basements below required conservation, rehabilitation or upgrading due to time, wear and changing operational necessities.

Scaffolding in Reading Room looking up at dome. May 21, 2003 (Roy Grogan)

For the duration of the rehabilitation project, the library collections and staff were relocated: the building was vacated entirely in 2002 and meticulously repaired, refurbished and modernized in keeping with the ‘minimal intervention’ strategy of the overall architectural approach. All the cherished details were preserved—restored to their original splendour—even as the building’s systems and structures were brought forward to meet modern building standards.

Reading Room before. April 12, 2002

Reading Room after. May 12, 2006

Inside, there will be improved consultation facilities for Parliamentarians and other clients, enhanced facilities for public tours, safer and more functional workspaces for Library staff, and the required storage to house the Library's important collections in proper conditions.

One important enhancement was the installation of new, sophisticated mechanical systems that permit—for the first time in the building’s history—fine-tuned control over temperature and humidity levels, air circulation and other environmental factors essential for the comfort and well-being of staff, for the preservation of the Library’s collection, and for the protection of the building’s fabric.