That’s their official name; everyone else just calls them “The Leg,” short for BC Legislative Assembly. The seat of provincial government is a striking neo-baroque building designed by a 25-year-old Francis Rattenbury, the dashing young architect who created so many of the city’s most distinctive structures. It was built between 1893 and 1898 and came in well over budget at a then-shocking cost of nearly C$1 million. Grand as it is on the outside—especially when it is all lit up at night—inside it is equally impressive, with fine mosaics, marble, woodwork, and stained glass, not to mention all those arguing politicians.