Quote:
Originally Posted by _Citizen_Dane_
The Legislature originally started life as a carbon copy of the British Columbia Parliament, before significant government mandated redesigns forced it into the very American looking building that stands today. Construction costs ballooned to more than double what was expected, and the project went through three major architects over its five year long build cycle.
Its full history can be found here for those interested.
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My Father came to Edmonton to work on the Fed building. We were told stories of some of the issues. Like, the designers planned on having opening windows for ventilation. Not knowing how windy it gets. when the windows were opened papers were blown off the desks. To fix that they installed glass along the lower edge of the windows to deflect the wind up. A few years ago as the renovations began, the contractors had a tour of the facility. and there were those glass panels. I believe they are still in place.
My sister in law works on the upper floor now. and I have been in a few times since they reopened it.
Another story was that when it was designed NFLD was not part of Canada yet. They did not have the coat of arms when construction started. Apparently MacDonald contacted Joey Smallwood and got a copy of the coat of arms and had it added.