The Pink Palace and Parliamentary Green.

• Author: Anthony, Laura
• Position: Sketches of Parliaments and Parliamentarians Past

Associations with royalty, the 'common man,' or life and fertility; the demands of television; and personal (or partisan) preference. There are many reasons why Canadian legislatures are decorated with certain shades and hues. In this article, the authors explain why Ontario's Pink Palace is filled with parliamentary green and how some other Assemblies have used the colour wheel when decorating.

What lies beneath the feet of elected officials is sometimes just as interesting as the legislation on their desks. Despite the symbolic value and high visibility of legislative chambers in the era of televised broadcasts, surprisingly little has been written about the factors that inform the colours used to decorate a chamber, or about the reasons for the (sometimes dramatic) changes that are made. In many provinces even the colour of the carpeting on the floor of the legislature has undergone significant alterations.

The Pink (And Green) Palace

Colour has always played a central role in identifying Queen's Park. Known to many as the "Pink Palace," the name refers to the hue of its exterior since 1893.

The Chamber's interior has been altered on more than one occasion. In 1893 the chamber was predominately green with a series of hand-painted murals, which were subsequently covered for acoustical reasons. Between 1930 and 1940 the Chamber was renovated twice: first the desks were arranged in a horseshoe pattern, only to be switched back to the traditional two-sided style in the 1940s. During the 1970s the seats were blue and the carpets and drapes red.

The most recent change dates from the late 1990s when a decision was made to restore the Chamber's original decor to the greatest extent possible and return its colouring to parliamentary green. The restoration of the Legislative Building began in 1992, with a five-year project to repair the exterior of the building. Subsequent work focussed on the building's interior including the wood wainscoting, the terrazzo floor, and the slate steps of the grand staircase. The impetus for these changes began in the 1980s, in part due to the transfer of the responsibility for the Legislature from the Ministry of Government Services to the Office of the Assembly. (1)

Parliamentary Green

Parliamentary green has long been the colour of the House of Commons in Westminster though its origins and symbolism is still debated. In the Middle Ages, when all men were obligated to practice archery, green was the colour of...