Shining a light on Ontario's parliamentarians: chandeliers in the Legislative Chamber.

AuthorHynes, Susanne
PositionSketches of Parliaments and Parliamentarians Past

Look up! Look way up in Ontario's legislative chamber and you'll be able to marvel at some magnificent chandeliers dating back to the 1890s. Tracing changes from gasoline to electricity, to more modern considerations such as broadcast requirements and energy efficient LED bulbs, the author shines a light on this interesting aspect of parliamentary history.

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Lighting in the Ontario Legislative Chamber is provided by four magnificent chandeliers dating back to 1893 and 10 smaller fixtures, in a similar style, added in 1985-86. The chamber, which is 65 feet wide, 80.5 feet long (north, south) and, at its highest, 71.5 feet above the chamber's floor, requires a lot of candle power to serve the needs of the legislators who occupy it.

1893

In 1893 when the building opened, lighting was provided by the four chandeliers, 22 bracket lights, and east, south, and west-facing windows above the public galleries and the Press Gallery.

In late 1892 the Bennett and Wright Company of Toronto designed the light fixtures to specifications of the building's architect, Richard Waite. The four chandeliers, referred to as "gasoliers," and 22 matching bracket lights were manufactured in the United States by the Central Gas Fixture Company of New York. Each chandelier cost $700 and weighed 408 kilograms. They provided illumination through 24 electric lights on spokes that reached out and down from the central decorative globe and 24 gas lights resembling candles and arranged in 6 clusters of four above the globe. Each chandelier is 18 feet in height with an 8.5 foot diameter and hangs 32 feet from the ceiling. Dual electric/gas lighting was necessary at the time of installation since the supply of electricity was unreliable. Gas, supplied through a pipe connecting the chandelier to the ceiling, was ignited by an electric charge that ran down wires on the fixtures, "turning on" the "candles."

Modifications

Over the next 100 years, the chandeliers were modified a number of times. Records are very sketchy but existing photographs show three significant changes.

Sometime before 1915, the downward spokes carrying electric bulbs were removed and metal bands were attached to hold the new downward-facing electric lights. The candelabra were wired for electricity around this time while the wall brackets installed in 1893 are not visible in 1912-13 photographs. The 1924 annual report of the Department of Public Works lists "the removal of the very strong glare in...

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