The Roman numeral for four on the Peace Tower clock is IIII instead of the traditional IV.
You need good eyesight to see it, and according to school books, it is incorrect. Instead of IV, the fourth Roman numeral on the Peace Tower clock is IIII.
That is one of many quirky stories found in Don Nixon’s book, The Other Side of the Hill.
The book reveals a hidden side of the Hill, one that does not have Mounties on horseback or tulips, says Nixon, a retired government engineer who spent nearly 30 years managing Parliament Hill building projects for the department of public works and government services.
“Parliament Hill is going to be here for a long time,” says Nixon. “And these kinds of stories are a valid part of history.”
Nixon was alerted to the odd numbering on the clock in an email sent to him by a citizen wanting to know why it was not IV.
“I must have looked up at it several times a day and I had never noticed it,” says Nixon.
For reasons unknown to the public, it is apparently a convention among some clock and watch makers to use IIII instead of IV, like Big Ben’s clock in London and the Rolex watch you might be wearing.
After discovering the quirky clock, Nixon, who volunteered as a tour guide for several years, says he used to quiz the public on their knowledge of Roman numerals. To no one’s surprise, most replied with IV. Nixon says he then turned the quiz onto the group’s watches and told them to look at the four. To everyone’s surprise, there were always a couple who had IIII instead of IV.
The clock, built in 1922, is a heritage site for tourists to photograph. Yet, 90 years later, most Ottawa residents do not know about the clock’s fourth Roman numeral twist.
“You ask me this today and I’ve lived two minutes away my entire life. I must have walked by it a million times and it never dawned on me to check the numbers,” says Aman Kaura, a third-year history student at the University of Ottawa who lives near Parliament Hill.
Even former tour guides do not know about the numbers.
“I worked there for two years and I never knew about it until now,” says Michelle Lauer, a former parliamentary tour guide. “I’m glad a book was written about it though. It probably has so many quirky stories.”
In the 461-page book, Nixon writes about the discomfort politicians had to endure in the hot, smelly Centre Block during the Victorian era.
It also covers the 1916 fire, where Nixon makes a bold statement by saying that it was not an accident.
The book reveals a secret “bar [that] politicians didn’t want to admit there was,” where last-call was far later than other bars. Nixon also writes about the Hill's cat colony.
“It’s wacky, almost bizarre. Very interesting book,” says Nixon.
The copper roofs on Parliament are green. Everyone can see that. But Nixon says the green did not come naturally. In his book, he quotes Doug Pickard, the foreman of a roofing contractor: “Roofers used to mop horse urine on the new copper to make it go green faster.”
Whether a watch strikes IIII or IV, or a roof’s aging process is accelerated by urine, Don Nixon’s The Other Side of the Hill will give you a new view of the Hill and all of its happenings.