Description of Historic Place

The Gazebo is located on a tiny man-made island about 20 feet from the shore of Batterman’s Point on Hill Island, in the St. Lawrence Islands National Park of Canada. The small, octagonal building is open-sided with an octagonal roof supported by rubble-stone piers, peeled log posts and brackets. Executed in the Rustic style, the building has an open interior space. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

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

Historical value
The Gazebo, as an outbuilding for a grand 19th-century cottage property in the Thousand Islands area, is a very good example of a building associated with the cottage movement in Canada. Set within one of North America’s most prestigious cottage regions, the Gazebo is associated with Grant Mitchell, Chairman of the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority, who owned Batterman’s Point from 1964 to 1982. As one of four extant structures dating from the early 20th century on the property, the Gazebo is a visible reminder of Batterman’s Point’s grand past.

Architectural value
The Gazebo is valued for its excellent aesthetics. It is a charming example of Rustic Style architecture, incorporating local materials, Tudor Revival elements and whimsical detailing. The picturesque qualities of its design reside in its small scale, octagonal, shingled roof, rubble-stone piers, and peeled-log posts and brackets. The sculptural quality of the building’s design and construction is emphasised by the use of tree limbs for the supports. Good functional design is evidenced in the open interior, while good craftsmanship is evidenced in the woodwork and masonry.

Environmental value
The Gazebo maintains an unchanged relationship to its island site and reinforces the picturesque character of Batterman’s Point and is a familiar local landmark to boaters.

Sources: Kate MacFarlane, Twenty Eight Buildings, St. Lawrence Islands National Park, Ontario, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office, Reports 93-023 through 93-038; Gazebo, Batterman’s Point, Hill Island, St. Lawrence Islands National Park, Ontario, Heritage Character Statement 93-030.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Gazebo should be respected.

Its good aesthetics, good functional design and good quality craftsmanship, for example:
- the picturesque quality as expressed through its small scale, the Rustic style design and use of local materials;
- its octagonal, shingled roof, its rubble-stone piers, and its peeled-log posts and brackets;
- the configuration of the open interior space.

The manner in which the Gazebo reinforces the picturesque character of the setting, for example:
- the picturesque quality of the man-made island on which the Gazebo sits as expressed by the rubble-stone breakwall, and the arched footbridge to Hill Island.