The Bank Turned Library

 A favourite stop during Doors Open is the Library of Parliament annex on Sparks Street, which is a block south of Parliament Hill. It is housed within this former bank. The building dates to 1924, in the Beaux-Arts style, and the former bank, the Bank of Nova Scotia, vacated in the 1980s for a nearby location. The government turned it into the main annex for the Library, which is on Parliament Hill. These days, with the Library of Parliament inaccessible due to the rehabilitation work, this place is serving for the next few years as the main branch.

The architectural details are a delight, inside and out.

When it was a bank, this would have been the manager's office. 

A bust of King Edward VII rests here.

The book stops were reason enough for this photograph.

This beautiful painting above the fireplace is The Parliamentary Library, by Anthony Batten, painted in 2020. It depicts the interior of this space, which is behind Centre Block, where most of the current work is taking place. The Library itself had work done on it years ago, and is not part of the current project, but since its primary access point is through the Centre Block, it is not being used at present, with the books and other materials being stored at annex locations around the national capital. The white statue at the heart of the painting is a statue of Queen Victoria.

I love the architecture, including the details of the woodworking.

Here we are in the main space of the interior. The contemporary infrastructure was installed in such a way as to be easily removable, with four stories of shelving at left. It actually works very well with the older architecture of the building.

Doors Open is the only time of year when the public can visit. The annex is otherwise at the disposal of Parliamentarians and their staff. 

Since 2001, there has been a program of Parliamentary poet laureates.

They include photos of each, with a selection of their poetry, in English and French.

Here we have a photograph of the main space as it appeared when it was a bank.

There was even a vault downstairs back in the day. As I understand it, the vault is still there.

More from here tomorrow.