Description of Historic Place

The Armoury in North Vancouver, also known as the Lieutenant-Colonel J.P. Fell Armoury, is located on a sloping site adjacent to a residential area and Mahon Park. It is a large, two-storey, low-massed structure, which conveys an image of strength and permanence. The main entrance is through a large troop door. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Armoury is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical Value
The Armoury is associated with the expansion of militia training facilities at a time of tremendous local and national growth. It is a rare example of its type and scale west of Ontario. It is also associated with the 6th Field Company of Canadian Engineers, for whom it was built, which later became the 6th Field Engineer Squadron.

Architectural Value
The Armoury is a good example of an armoury built to the standard plans of the period 1910 to 1915. It is a straightforward, utilitarian construction intended for military purposes. With little superfluous decoration, its purpose was the provision of generous drill space, classrooms and armouries. Its characteristic features of brick, timber and steel construction balanced its functionality with the presentation of a dignified public face to the neighbourhood.

Environmental Value
The Armoury is compatible with its setting of parkland and residential buildings where it also plays an important role as a familiar landmark in the neighbourhood.

Sources: Jacqueline Adell, Armoury, Forbes Avenue and 15th Street, North Vancouver, British Columbia. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 87-141; Armoury, Forbes Avenue and 15th Street, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Heritage Character Statement 87-141.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Armoury should be respected.

Its aesthetic style, used for military purposes, using good quality materials and craftsmanship, for example: the large scale, symmetrical, low-massed building with a gable-roof; the brick and masonry walls punctuated and articulated by corbelling, piers, pilasters and multi-paned industrial windows; the main troop entrance in the central bay; the large segmental windows; the simple interior characterized by the large, open volume of the drill hall under the exposed painted steel Fink trusses.

The manner in which the Armoury in North Vancouver is compatible with its setting and is a familiar community landmark as evidenced by: its construction into a sloped site where it melds into its residential and parkland setting; the armoury’s large scale and distinctive design which makes it a landmark in the neighbourhood.

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.

The Lt. Col. J.P. Fell Armoury was erected in 1914 as a drill hall by the Engineer Branch of the Department of Militia and Defence, to the standard plans of the period 1910 to 1915. It is the property of the Department of National Defence, and remains in use by the 6th Field Engineer Squadron, successor to the 6th Field Company of Canadian Engineers for whom the structure was built. The Department of National Defence is custodian of the building. See FHBRO Building Report 87-141.

Reason for Designation
The North Vancouver Armoury has been designated Recognized as a valuable example of a special building type, as a representative of a particular theme of national military history, and as a well-fitting element in its predominantly residential surroundings.

The sole example of its type and scale west of Ontario, the North Vancouver Armoury embodies characteristics associated with the military developments of the period. A straightforward utilitarian construction with little superfluous decoration, it represents well the then-current attitude toward reform in the militia, providing generous drill space together with classrooms and armouries. Its functional design, little altered, grew directly from a mandate to provide greatly expanded militia training facilities at a time of tremendous local and national growth. Its characteristic features of brick, timber and steel construction balanced intrinsic functionality with a dignified public face to its neighbourhood. Its Fink-truss drill hall is a good surviving example of the type.

The location of the building on a sloping site at the edge of what was then a rapidly growing community enabled it to meld with its residential and parkland context while providing good utility for its own requirements. It has also served as a general community hall on many occasions.

Character Defining Elements
The heritage value of the building resides primarily in the exterior elevations and in the interior spaces characteristic of the armoury as a building type, most notably the open spans of the drill hall itself.

The external character of the armoury is of a simple symmetrical, gable-roofed mass punctuated and articulated by corbelled brick masonry, piers, pilasters, and multiple-paned industrial windows.

A cement coping surmounts its gable-end walls in a manner that employs the vertical pilaster elements and low chimneys to break up the roof line, effectively bringing the scale of these walls into harmony with their domestic neighbours. A square-plan chimney in contrasting brick has been added in front of the original south elevation, obscuring an original chimney behind.

The long low (east) façade to Forbes Avenue is broken by a series of evenly spaced piers, with coped shoulders at a line about halfway up the face, that also effectively reduces the severity of the elevation to the street. The west façade is a mirror image of the least. The cement shoulders of the piers originally stood out from the brick in texture and colour, but all save those at first-floor level on Forbes Avenue have been painted over in the same colour as the brick.

The internal arrangement of drill hall and smaller subsidiary rooms on two floors is evident in the window arrangements on each face of the building, although the generally similar and symmetrical north and south elevations do conceal differences in internal plan at either end. The windows are light metal-framed, multiple-paned windows typical of industrial construction of the era. Breaking up the large glazed areas into relatively small panes provides an important scale-modifying texture to the façades, another very important means of fitting the bulk of the building into its residential context.

The notable internal feature is the drill hall itself, with exposed painted steel Fink trusses spanning the full 80-foot width of the building over a timber floor structure.

As a whole, the building retains almost all of the characteristic features of its original construction, and these should be protected and retained in the course of any future work. It is entirely fitting that its original and existing use continue. As it stands, only the chimney added to the south façade and the painted exterior have altered the external character of the building. The internal character of the building has apparently been well-maintained and little altered.

The symmetry and clear organization of the building's principal public façades should be respected. The removal of the discordant chimney would improve the aesthetic quality of the building. At the point when the exterior paint has deteriorated to an unacceptable condition, it should be removed, the masonry repointed as required, and the brickwork maintained as unpainted. Specialists in the masonry conservation field should be consulted for such work.

The light metal sash and frames and multiple panes of the armoury's windows are essential features of the elevations, and should
be retained.