O-7340.1

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chair (Speaker's)

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1917-1921 The Honourable Edgar Nelson Rhodes

Speaker Rhodes' Chair

This oak chair was created for Edgar Nelson Rhodes when he became Speaker in 1917 and was the last to be made for an individual. With its gothic revival style and elaborate carvings, it is very similar to the chair made for the previous Speaker, Albert Sévigny. Both were based on designs provided by the Chief Architect at the Department of Public Works and handcrafted in Montreal by the Bromsgrove Guild (Canada), Ltd.

Rhodes presided from this chair primarily at the Victoria Memorial Museum, where the Lower Chamber held sittings after Canada’s original Parliament Building was destroyed in a fire in 1916. The new Centre Block opened in 1920 and a permanent Speaker’s Chair was designed and installed in 1921. A century later, however, the Rhodes Chair is back in service in the temporary House of Commons Chamber in West Block while Centre Block undergoes extensive restoration and rehabilitation work.

Bromsgrove Guild

The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts was founded in 1898 in Worcestershire, England, by a group of artisans associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. In the early 20th century, the guild established branches in major centres in England and Scotland. In 1911, it opened a workshop in Montreal, which was managed by architect E. Lawrence Wren and staffed mostly by British artisans. The Bromsgrove Guild (Canada), Ltd., specialized in handcrafted furniture and plaster models used for carving or casting. Among the company’s major commissions was an order for furniture and architectural sculptures for the Saskatchewan legislature building.