of glacial Lake Agassiz clays before hitting limestone bedrock. Exterior steps were made from Butler granite quarried in Ontario. In contrast, most of the statuary uses Bedford Limestone from Indiana, which is the oldest stone in the building, dating to slightly more than 2.5 billion years ago. Interior The building’s floor area is , containing about . The basic floor plan of the building forms the letter H contained in a rectangle . Marbles that were used in the building contain fossils, and include Tennessee marble for flooring, Botticino marble from Italy for the Grand Staircase, and Ordovician Black Marble, likely from Vermont, for other interior decorative purposes. According to Frank Worthington Simon, the building’s architect, hardwoods used for doors and trim included birch for the basement, oak for the first and third floors, and walnut for the second floor. Moreover, pneumatic clocks, controlled by a central clock, were installed throughout the building, and elements in the building’s electric light fixtures include clawed and cloven feet, cobras, and lion heads. Exterior architecture and design The building's design can be classified as a neoclassical architectural style, either Beaux-Arts or Neo-Grec. Pediment On the north side of the Legislative Building, above the 6 Ionic columns, is the main pediment, the figures of which were designed by Scottish sculptor Albert Hemstock Hodge and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers of New York."The Exterior", at the Legislative Tour, Province of Manitoba. Above the main pediment, flanking both sides are two Egyptian sphinxes facing both east and west. Carved onto a flat piece of stone, just below the chin, in Egyptian hieroglyphics, is "The everlasting manifestation of the Sun God Ra, the good God who gives life." Describing its central figure as a representation of Manitoba, Frank Worthington Simon wrote of the pediment:[In the left hand corner,] Enterprise beckons the workers to the Land of Promise. [A bull is] led by Europe, signifying the immigration from Europe and adjoining the central figure is a group of father, mother and child, the new family in the land. In the right hand corner are two figures embracing and clasping a jar, whence issues a stream of water. These represent the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers fertilizing the earth. Next is a ploughman with his horse, tilling the soil, whilst the male and female figures bring the fruits of the Soil of Manitoba.In the bottom-left corner of