Parliament Building (Quebec)

The Parliament Building of Quebec (French: Hôtel du Parlement du Québec) is an eight-floor structure and is home to the National Assembly of Quebec (French: Assemblée Nationale du Québec), in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Parliament Building was designed by architect Eugène-Étienne Taché in a Second Empire style and built between 1877 and 1886, in the heart of Quebec's Parliament Hill. The National Assembly (or, as it was called until 1968, the Legislative Assembly) first met there on March 27, 1884, even though the building was only fully completed two years later, on April 8, 1886. From the 1910s to the 1930s, the government built several adjacent buildings to expand its office spaces, creating a parliamentary complex, of which the Parliament Building is the main edifice. This structure is a successor of several earlier buildings, the earliest of which was built in 1620 and among which there were two other parliament houses that served as legislatures.

Geographically, the building is in the Place de l'Assemblée-Nationale, in the district of Vieux-Québec–Cap-Blanc–colline Parlementaire, part of the borough of La Cité-Limoilou, just outside the walls of Old Quebec. However, the Parliament Building, along with several adjacent buildings and terrain, have been declared a national historic site (French: site historique national), and as such taken away from the control of the provincial Ministry of Culture and Communications and municipalities. This designation notwithstanding, the province of Quebec is signatory to a long-term leasing deal (called emphyteusis) when it comes to the territory in front of the Parliament Building, that is, from the front entrance to the fortifications of the old town, as this parcel has belonged to the federal government since 1881.