Confederation Column

The Canadian Parliament Buildings' Centre Block was consumed by fire in February 1916, devastating the original Neo-Gothic structure. The Confederation Column, in the central rotunda of the new building, commemorates the start of reconstruction in 1917 and honours Canada's involvement in the Great War. The Tyndall Limestone column anchors the ceremonial space alongside the adjoining Hall of Honour.

The House of Commons contracted our team to provide cleaning, solubility testing, and inpainting of the existing gold lettering, along with the removal and replacement of a previous repair on the high-relief carved base — a maritime theme of aquatic and terrestrial animals beneath the crowned face of Poseidon. The earlier repair was removed and replaced with a colour-matched limestone dutchman; the original loss is thought to have been a large fossilised inclusion that detached after an impact. The work was completed ahead of the ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the building's reconstruction.