Built: 1913-1920 Designed by: Frank Worthington Simon and Henry Boddington III Type: Government Building Maximum Height: 242 feet / 74 meters Location: Broadway at Osborne Street, Winnipeg, Canada
T he seat of government for the prairie province of Manitoba, this impressive building is just outside of downtown Winnipeg on the Assiniboine River. It is the third legislative building, and was constructed 50 years after Manitoba joined the Canadian confederation.
It boasts 30 acres of lawns and formal gardens with scattered statues of the people who made that event possible. In addition, there is a totem pole donated by British Columbia on the occasion of that province's 50th anniversary.
The building itself is made from Manitoba Tyndall limestone from the town of Garson. The stone has traces of fossils in it from the time this area was a tropical sea. The layout is an H shape, and the architectural details are Beaux-Arts style. Above the entrance, the pediment displays six figures symbolic of Canada:
**A ship's wheel symbolizing the Atlantic Ocean.
**A half-kneeling man symbolizing progress.
**A female figure symbolizing Manitoba.
**The goddess Europa leading a bull, symbolizing Canada's European heritage.
**A man, woman and child symbolizing the colonization of a new land.
**A hand holding Neptune's trident, symbolizing the Pacific Ocean.
There are also symbols adorning the building that represent the Red River, the Assiniboine River, a pair of sphinxes, farmers planting, farmers harvesting, symbols of agriculture, art, science, industry, war, and peace.
Like so many government buildings, this one sports an impressive central dome. The floor of the dome's rotunda is made from Tennessee marble, black Vermont marble, and Verd Antique marble in the design of a Grecian key -- symbol of the search for knowledge.
The dome is 240-feet high and supports the building's only lifelong resident -- the Golden Boy. While the Legislative Building may be full of politicians, leaders, movers and shakers, its most beloved resident is the Golden Boy. Holding a torch on top of the Legislative dome, he has become one of the best known symbols of the province. This bronze statue is covered with 23 ½ carat gold. He is the work of French sculptor Georges Gardet, but spent many of his early years crisscrossing the Atlantic in the hold of a troop ship.
The same sculptor that made the Golden Boy is also responsible for the two life-sized bison flanking the grand staircase.
Each bison weighs 2,268 kilograms.
Legend has it that the area at the base of the grand staircase was flooded and frozen, and the bison sculptures slid in on rafts of ice in order to keep from scratching the floor.
The grand staircase is arranged in three flights of 13 steps made from Carrara marble. There are also 13 light bulbs in the lamps that light the rotunda, and a number of other instances where 13 were used in the construction.
The desks in the legislative chamber still have their original inkwells.
There is some confusion about exactly how tall the Golden Boy statue is. The Manitoba Historical Society lists it as 13.5 feet tall. The Manitoba legislature's web site has it at 17.2 feet tall.
