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Speaker’s Chair of the Honourable Sir Alexandre Lacoste

The Speaker of the Senate, one of Parliament’s most important officials, presides over the Upper Chamber’s proceedings from the Speaker’s chair. Before 1923, each Speaker selected or designed his own chair and kept it upon retirement.

This chair was commissioned for and used by the Honourable Sir Alexandre Lacoste. A prominent Montréal lawyer and political adviser, he was appointed to the Senate in 1884 and named Speaker in 1891. Mr. Lacoste resigned soon after, however, to become Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Quebec.

The carved wooden chair features floral ornamentation along the arm rests, front legs and top of the backrest. Maroon velvet upholstery covers the seat and the buttoned backrest. Its design is reflective of the Rococo Revival style that was popular in New York in the mid-1800s and known for the extravagant use of carved ornamentation — particularly flowers.

Mr. Lacoste’s chair was donated to the Upper Chamber by the Honourable Serge Joyal, P.C., who retired from the Senate in 2020.

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