Description of Historic Place

The Byng Warden Patrol Cabin is located in a simple grassed meadow on the North Boundary Trail in Jasper National Park of Canada. It is a modest, single-storey log cabin with a gable roof. It has a log-framed open porch. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Byng Warden Patrol Cabin is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
The Byng Warden Patrol Cabin is associated with the National Park program that constructed a series of outposts for the use of boundary patrols of the Warden Service, to control poaching and visitor activities. It is also linked to historic travel routes and to the intersection of important trails through the park.

Architectural Value
The Byng Warden Patrol Cabin is a good example of a patrol cabin whose design follows the Standard Plan of 1918 of the National Parks Branch and is function-oriented with rustic character. Its quality craftsmanship and use of natural building materials respects the rustic architectural imagery practiced within National Parks.

The Environmental Value
The Byng Warden Patrol Cabin reinforces the character of its natural setting through its form and materials. It maintains an unchanged historical relationship to its landscape. The cabin is a destination point for travelers and a familiar landmark along the trail.

Sources: The Byng Warden Patrol Cabin, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Heritage Character Statement, 97-085.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Byng Warden Patrol Cabin should be respected.

Its function-oriented standard plan, rustic character and good quality craftsmanship and materials such as:
-the simple massing of a rectangular plan, single-storey structure with a gable roof;
-the log-framed open porch with trussed-purlin supports and posts at the gable end;
-the function-driven positioning of the windows, shutters and door made of simple wood
components;
-the good quality construction;
-the walls of peeled logs, horizontally laid and saddle-notched at the corners; and,
-the stone foundation that incorporates log supports for the front deck.

The manner in which the Byng Warden Patrol Cabin reinforces the rustic character of the natural setting along the North Boundary Trail as evidenced in:
-the unchanged relationship of the structure to the meadow, the forest and the mountains.