The Dairy Building (now the skating pavilion) consists of a small, one-storey, octagonal structure with two attached wings in the back. It is a wood-frame construction featuring a faceted, conical roof capped by a large decorated multi-gabled lantern and finial. Designed under the Department of Public Works’ Chief Architect Thomas Fuller, the building has painted clapboard siding and includes decorative trim and a single rectangular window centered on four of the five exposed elevations of the octagon. The Dairy Building is located in the northern sector of the picturesque grounds of the Rideau Hall Complex, the home of the Governor General of Canada, in Ottawa.
Reference: (
visit link)
From an article in the Ottawa Citizen
Rideau Hall‘s Dairy Building has had trouble putting down roots. Since it was built, the 121-year-old heritage edifice has been moved at least once, and perhaps twice.
Now the National Capital Commission wants to relocate it yet again, this time adjacent to the public skating rink on the governor general’s grounds, where it will serve next winter as a skate-change room, then become one of the NCC’s planned 2017 “Confederation Pavilions.”
The small octagonal wooden building was initially used for the collection, distribution and storage of milk, at a time when Rideau Hall was a self-sufficient estate. To make preservation easier, it was strategically located near Rideau Hall’s ice house.
According to the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office, which recognized it as a heritage building in 1987, the Dairy Building was moved 50 metres in 1916 to its present site 175 metres northeast of Rideau Hall. It may also have been moved a second time, NCC officials say.
The 1916 move was prompted by upgrades a century ago in the area around the Dairy Building’s original location. At the time, Rideau Hall officials didn’t want utility buildings to be visible from public areas.
When he was governor general between 1946 and 1952, Viscount Alexander of Tunis, an avid painter, used the building as an artist’s studio. In recent decades, it has been used primarily for storage.
Before it’s moved again, contractors will dismantle the Dairy Building and transport it to their premises. They’ll then remove lead paint, protect and rehabilitate the building’s heritage components and reassemble it on its new site by this November.
While the building will serve users of the skating rink, it will also be a place to warm up for those doing other winter activities, such as sleigh rides.
It will include interpretation components that will tell the story of Rideau Hall and the links between governors general and Canada’s winter sporting history, including the Stanley Cup and the Clarkson Cup, which recognizes the top team in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.
During Canada’s sesquicentennial year, the Dairy Building will serve as one of the NCC’s Confederation Pavilions, which the agency says “will create a unique itinerary for residents and visitors to discover unique and little-known architectural gems in Canada’s Capital.”
Repurposing the Dairy Building, the NCC said in an email, “will not only help preserve the building, but will reinstate it as a landmark at Rideau Hall.”
Source: (
visit link)