Peaceful

Here we have the main stained glass window inside Knox Presbyterian. It was the design of a Scottish artist, William Wilson, and takes as its theme the birth of Christ

I looked back down the aisle.

Another look to the altar.

I headed up to the balcony. This sitting area is found here.

The balcony stained glass is also by Wilson- two decades after he designed the first. He was losing his sight at this point in his life but dictated his design to a colleague, who carried out the work. The theme of this window is Revelations.

A look into the sanctuary below.

I came out into the garden courtyard.

Sanctuary

 Knox Presbyterian Church is downtown, and it is a regular feature for Doors Open. It was founded in 1844. The current church dates to 1932, but looks older. It blends Gothic and Norman influences in its architecture.

In a side room off the entrance hall, historical items of the church were found.

A peek out into the garden. The sanctuary is to the left, and one of the staircases ascending to the balcony is at right.

The sanctuary has these graceful arched columns. Most of the windows are translucent.

A look to the front of the church, and the main altar, with its beautiful stained glass.

Plaques are found at one corner before the altar.

They commemorate the congregation members who fought and died in both World Wars.

Colours of the 207th Battalion are here, placed here after the First World War.

The baptismal font and the pulpit are close by.

Across the way, another pulpit and a grand piano.

Resourceful

The blending of old architecture and new infrastructure in this place works well. All of the infrastructure was installed in such a way that it can be removed with no impact on the building itself.

This is the 150th anniversary for the Library of Parliament. The main building at Centre Block is the only part of the original Centre Block still standing. On the night of the 1916 fire that destroyed the rest of the building, a fast acting clerk saved the library by shutting the heavy iron doors that protected it from the inferno.

One last shot. I was heading elsewhere from here.

 

Library Annex

 Doors Open is a program held on weekends across the province in cities and towns from April into October each year. In Ottawa, the first weekend of June is set aside for it, with numerous sites across the city limits. I was only able to get to a couple of sites this year, but was glad to at least see some of it. 

Sparks Street was my first stop. The former main branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia is here. For years now it has been an annex branch for the Library of Parliament on Parliament Hill, which is one block north. It is open to Parliamentarians and their staff during the year, but the public can visit on this weekend. With the work going on around Centre Block, it is currently the main branch of the Library.

The beautiful architecture outside is matched by the interior, which has contemporary infrastructure that works well with the older architecture. Shelving contains numerous books- just a fraction of what Parliament's library contains. This is, after all, only one of the annex branches.

The former branch manager's office is worth a stop, with its woodwork doors and fireplace.

The painting on the wall is The Parliamentary Library, Ottawa, by Anthony Batten. Dating to 2020, it features the Library on the Hill, currently inaccessible. A statue of Queen Victoria is lit by daylight sun. The Library saw rehabilitation work done early in the century, so is not really part of the work on Centre Block. However, one has to go through Centre Block to get to it, which is why it's inaccessible during the project. A staff member said that the statue of the Queen is the only item in there at the present. The books and other movable items have all been moved off site.

This is a bust of King Edward VII.

The building architect, John Lyle, did other projects around the country and beyond.

Since the beginning of the century, Parliament has had a tradition of a poet laureate. Some of them are seen, with a hint of their poetry, along the book cases.