Alberta Legislature Building, Parliament building in Edmonton, Canada
The Alberta Legislature Building is a Beaux-Arts parliament building in Edmonton, Canada, with a symmetrical T-shaped plan centred on a tall dome of terracotta made by Gibbs and Canning of Tamworth, England, topped by a colonnaded cupola. A projecting portico of massive columns carries a triangular pediment with carved reliefs above a broad entrance stair. The first floor is faced with Vancouver Island granite and the upper floors with sandstone from the Glenbow Quarry in Calgary.
Construction began in 1907 under architects Allan Merrick Jeffers and Richard Blakey, and the building opened in 1913. The provincial government moved into the new structure, which has served as the home of the legislative assembly ever since.
Locals call it "the Ledge", and the nickname appears in the title of a song by The Rural Alberta Advantage, "Edmonton". The building also gives its name to the Purple City Music Festival, and it features on the Edmonton Queer History Project map, which records the LGBT activism that has taken place here over the years.
The building sits at 10801 97 Avenue NW, and an underground walkway links it to Government Centre station and the Government Centre Transit Centre. Free tours run throughout the week. On the south lawn, marker posts show where Fort Edmonton once stood.
The floodlights surrounding the building create an optical effect at night where viewers who look directly at them and then glance away see a purple tint in their field of vision. This afterimage surprises many first-time visitors and comes from the way the retina processes bright light.
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