Ontario Legislature, Queen's Park

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The south side of the Ontario Legislature.
The south side of the Ontario Legislature.

The Ontario Legislature, sometimes called the Ontario Legislative Building, is the building that houses the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Toronto, Ontario. The building sits in the middle of Queen's Park, south of Wellesley Street, on the former site of King's College (which later became the University of Toronto). The land is leased from the university to the province on a 999-year term, for a ceremonial $1 per year.

Designed by Buffalo, New York, architect Richard A. Waite, the five-storey building was completed in 1893. Waite employed the Richardsonian Romanesque style, taking advantage of the iron frame construction to devote an uncharacteristically large area to windows. One tower was originally intended to hold a clock, but it was never installed and a rose window was built instead.

At the north-west corner of the building is the vice-regal apartments of the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. The Lieutenant-Governor has occupied this suite since 1937, when the Government of Ontario sold the Government House to the federal government. The Lieutenant-Governor's present suite is a two storey complex, with its own ceremonial porte-cochere entrance where members of the Canadian Royal Family and visiting foreign dignitaries are greeted; a rose garden donated by the Monarchist League of Canada sits in front of this porch. Inside are reception rooms, offices and support facilities; paintings from the Ontario Art Collection adorn the walls. The Lieutenant-Governor's office is the site of swearing-in ceremonies for Cabinet ministers, where Royal Assent is granted, and where the Lieutenant-Governor receives the Premier.

Bounded by parkland on all sides, the Ontario Legislature has an unobstructed view of the city and stands out among the buildings nearby. An open area south of the building, with extensive tree cover, is often used for public gatherings and demonstrations. The provincial ministries are housed in a separate government complex to the east, comprised of Hearst Block, Macdonald Block, Mowat Block and Whitney Block.

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