Description of Historic Place

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Detachment Building is a one-and-a-half storey, hipped roof building in a rustic style and embellished with Tudor details. Located in the Waterton townsite on a spacious corner lot, it is distinguished by its prominent gable and massive fieldstone chimney. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The RCMP Detachment Building is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
The RCMP Detachment Building is directly associated with the RCMP’s role of law enforcement in the National Parks. It depicts the symbolic importance of the Mounted Police and helped to reinforce their popular image within Canada and the National Parks. The Detachment Building also illustrates the maturation of Waterton Lakes National Parks as its construction reflects that permanent facilities were justifiable and necessary within the park.

Architectural Value
The RCMP Detachment Building is one of the first and a very good example of a rustic architectural style based on a Tudor-Revival motif, adopted by the National Parks system in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It exhibits very good quality craftsmanship and materials. The plans were designed by the National Parks Branch headed by W.D. Cromarty who was a direct contributor to the development of Waterton Lakes and this distinctive phase of architecture within the Park.

The Environmental Value
The Detachment Building along with the garage is situated on a prominent and elevated site, spread over three spacious lots. The relationship with the building to its site remains unchanged. The stone wall in the front and the landscaping at the side and the rear of the building are maintained in a natural state to enhance its picturesque appearance. The building’s prominent site makes it a regional landmark and its natural building materials and design reinforce the rustic character of its mountain park setting.

Sources:
RCMP Detachment Building and Garage, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Heritage Character Statement, 87-082.

James De Jonge, RCMP Detachment Building and Garage, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Federal Heritage Building Report, 87-082.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the RCMP Detachment Building should be respected, for example:

Its rustic style with Tudor-Revival motifs and very good quality craftsmanship and materials as for example:
Its asymmetrical assemblage of rough stone, stucco, leaded windows, half-timbering,
imposing wood-shingled roofs, prominent gables and massive fieldstone chimney. Its frame construction.

The manner in which the RCMP Detachment Building reinforces the rustic character of its mountain park setting and is a regional landmark within Waterton Lakes as evidenced in:
Its unchanged historical relationship to the site. Its stone wall, and conspicuous landscaping, which contribute to its picturesque
appearance. Its prominent location on a spacious corner lot.

Heritage Character Statement

Disclaimer - The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.

Manifest witnesses to the important role that the Mounted Police was beginning to play, the RCMP detachment building and garage were constructed in 1927 and 1928. Modified very little over the years, they are the oldest and largest buildings still used by the RCMP in the national parks. Environment Canada is the custodian. See FHBRO Building Report 87-82.

Reasons for Designation
The RCMP detachment building and garage have been placed on the list of “Recognized” federal heritage buildings because of their historical ties and their visual impact.

These carefully designed and well-located buildings are directly associated with the RCMP’s role of law enforcement in the national parks. They were built at a time when the RCMP was undergoing a reduction of its police surveillance role in the provinces and an expansion of its responsibilities for Crown lands. These buildings also manifest the symbolic importance of the RCMP, and on a broader scale they suited its federal identity. This symbolic role is displayed in the use of the rustic style embellished with Tudor details, one of the first examples of this style in the national parks, and by the design of appropriate landscaping.

Character-Defining Elements
It is the homogeneity of the exterior design of these buildings, as well as their appropriate landscaping, that give the whole its heritage character.

These buildings are among the first examples of use of the Tudor rustic style, adopted by the national parks system in the late 1920s and early 1930s as an expression of the connection that exists between natural and built settings. The plans were designed by the Urban Planning Division of the National Parks Branch headed by W.D. Cromarty, who was a direct contributor to the development of Waterton Lakes as the park’s acting superintendent. The RCMP building and garage are typical of the architectural quality that the National Parks Branch wanted to lend its most important parks. W.D. Cromarty subsequently directed the Architecture Division of the national parks system during the 10 to 15 years that saw the most intensive construction in the Picturesque Tudor rustic style. These buildings represent one of the important links in the evolution of this distinctive phase of park architecture.

The detachment building is an asymmetrical assemblage of rough stone, stucco, leaded windows, half-timbered roofs and imposing cedar-shingled roofs. Modified very little over the years, its style and site continue to make it a regional landmark. The garage is less elaborate, but its proportions and materials are similar. An impressive gable and outdoor staircase have been added, the garage’s wood doors have been replaced with aluminum ones, and the roof has been given a new covering of asphalt shingles.

These buildings should be preserved in their current state, paying particular attention to preservation of the different exterior finishes and decorative elements. Regular maintenance should be complemented with specific repairs and restoration as required. If the occasion presents itself, the garage doors and roofing should be restored to their original appearance, which is more consistent with the style of the building.

The landscaping, which is very conspicuous in one area, should also be preserved as a heritage characteristic of the property. The stone wall, trees and shrubs, and other landscaping features contribute to the original architectural whole.