Canada House: What to know about our U.K. outpost

Canada House, our country's High Commission in the United Kingdom, has reopened its doors after an extensive restoration to merge all its operations under one roof.

Located on London’s famed Trafalgar Square, the new Canada House is filled with Canadiana and original artwork. Here's a taste of what you can find there when you next pop in for tea:

Canada House offers consular support to Canadians in the U.K., as well as immigration and visa processing. Other staff in the building perform diplomatic services and trade promotion while Canadian Defence liaison staff work in the building as well.

The original Canada House was built between 1824 and 1827 and featured two small buildings behind one common façade, facing onto Trafalgar Square. It was designed by Sir Robert Smirke, the British Museum designer, in the Greek revival style and originally constructed to house the Union Club and the Royal College of Physicians.

The building became the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom in 1925 and was officially unveiled by Queen Elizabeth's grandfather, King George V.

By 1963, the facility has become too small for the growing High Commission staff, so much of the administrative business was moved to a second location several blocks away called Macdonald House, in Grosvenor Square.

In 2012, Canada purchased the building adjacent to Canada House, which was built by Sunlife of Canada between 1927 and 1929. Work began to unite the two buildings into one, revitalized Canada House.

The newly-revamped Canada House brings together old and new, by restoring most of the original features of the nearly 200-year-old heritage building and adding in with some of the best of Canada modern design, like this unusual chandelier.

Each of the meeting rooms inside is named after every province, territory and ocean, and include art and design pieces from their namesake. The Manitoba Room, for example, features a boardroom table fashioned from Manitoba wood, while the chairs and carpets were designed in Manitoba as well.

...and the large circular rug in the British Columbia Room, below, is made of hand-tufted black and white wool and showcases the art of traditional Coast Salish people of southern B.C.

The building also features more than 200 Canadian art pieces, including a work, below, by Gordon Smith, pieces by Emily Carr, photos by Edward Burtynsky and sculptures by Gathie Falk, among others.

All the original stonework on both buildings was restored to their former glory, although the two do not look alike. The original Canada House is made of Bath stone, while the new annex is built of Portland stone.

Canada House was almost destroyed in the Second World War. During the London Blitz in 1940 and 1941, a bomb fell outside Canada House, only a few metres away from Lester B. Pearson, the country's future Canadian prime minister who was the secretary to the High Commissioner at the time.

Also during the Second World War, it is said that former High Commissioner Vincent Massey ran a pub in the basement for Canadian servicemen.

During the official re-opening Thursday, Queen Elizabeth was presented with a set of ceremonial keys to Canada House, made of gold, silver and nickel. They are reproductions of the keys that were presented to her grandfather, King George V, when he opened Canada House in 1925.

With images from @BritishMonarchy, the Twitter feed of Buckingham Palace, Kirsty Wigglesworth of The Associated Press and a report from CTV's Ben O'Hara-Byrne