Legislative Assembly of Ontario

A new Visitor Welcome Centre

Project Date of Completion: February 2021

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario receives thousands of visitors a year to the facility. The original design by Richard A. Waite did not anticipate the volume of visitors nor the additional screening facilities required to enable the public and building users to enjoy a safe and secure environment. This project provided the opportunity to introduce a new welcome centre within the context of a significant public heritage building and grounds in the province. This addition and expansion represents the first new building construction on the front grounds since its opening in 1893, and the first major renovation since the fire of 1909. The challenge was to introduce a building that is modern in its approach and function, sympathetic to the powerful and clear expression and order of the original Romanesque composition and guided by the applicable heritage standards and guidelines. Construction began in 2019 with a conservation approach of preservation and rehabilitation towards the existing building.

The new structure is a modest addition that discretely blends into the heritage landscape of Queen’s Park and compliments the materiality of the surrounding sandstone structure while being a distinctly modern annex to the historic landmark. The design provides a welcoming user experience that sympathetically responds to and reveals the existing limestone foundation walls, sets the roof datum below the first-floor windows and restores original basement wood windows.