parliamentbuildingsottawaontfire1916

The Centre Block containing the Parliament building was destroyed by fire on 3 February 1916.

I believe this image is held by the Library and Archives Canada under the Item ID number (MIKAN) 3192647. The caption is "Centre Block fire, Parliament Buildings. Photograph taken at 12:30 a.m., a few minutes before the collapse of the tower", Since it is 12:30 a.m., the photograph was taken on February 4, 1916, as the fire ignited in the evening of February 3, 1916. The fire was found at 8:37 p.m., and within twelve hours, the building was completely destroyed, except for the Library of Parliament, spared by the closing of its heavy metal doors. Seven people died in the fire including MP Bowman Brown Law. The tower ignited in the middle of the image was the "Victoria Tower", a 55 metre bell tower completed in 1866. It was replaced with the "Peace Tower" in the new Parliament building, with a new centre block completed in 1920, and peace tower in 1926. The author of the photo is listed as J.B. Reid. Source: Credit: J.B. Reid / Library and Archives Canada / C-010079 (recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record...) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Block ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/the-night-parliament-bu...

Thanks Dean Z for finding this photo on Library and Archives Canada site. We'll update our catalog record with this additional information.

Is this in Canada?

Yes, it is, or rather was, in Ottawa. The NYT Picture section, Feb 13, 1916 (courtesy of American Memory) memory.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpnyt/1916/191602/19160213/00... shows the building on fire.

www.mcq.org/ghosts/documents/main_canadian_parliament_bui... has a picture from circa 1880.

It's the Centre Block, the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa. It was rebuilt, with some changes, see street view: maps.google.com/maps?q=parliament+hill+ottawa&ll=45.4... See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Block#History

swanq and B-59: Thanks for the information. It appears the date in the corner might be Feb. 4, 1916, which is the day after the fire. We will add a few more details when we update the record.

Canadian Parliament centre block, Ottawa, Ontario the tower was rebuilt much, much taller and is known as the Peace Tower

The building before the fire:


In 2004:

Thank you for your research CityBoy62, and thank you B-59 for connecting the two images. We'll add to the caption information the next time we update.