Description of Historic Place

The Haut-Fond Prince Light Tower is a modern pillar light of waisted caisson design. The caisson, anchored below the water’s surface, supports a low, round accommodation unit surrounded by a narrow gallery. The flat roof of the accommodation unit serves as a helicopter pad with a cylindrical tower set to one side. A simple gallery and flared lantern sit atop the tower. The light tower is painted in a red and white colour scheme. The caisson, iron pipe railings, and accents below the windows and at the top of the accommodation unit are all painted red. The tower itself features alternating red and white horizontal stripes. The light tower is situated in the lower St.Lawrence River, marking a shoal at the mouth of the Saguenay River.

Heritage Value

The Haut-Fond Prince Light Tower is a “Recognized” Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values:

Historical value
The Haut-Fond Prince Light Tower is a significant hazard marker with a range of 18 nautical miles. It is a channel marker on the St. Lawrence River, a major navigable river serving as an international shipping route. As such, it serves as a very good illustration of the theme of aids to navigation. Designed to replace a previous, seasonal lightship, the light tower also illustrates the evolution of facilities to accommodate maritime shipping into the winter season. Construction of the light tower was started in 1961 in response to the year-round opening of the seaway the year before. During the Christmas storm of 1966, it was pounded by high waves, fierce winds and snow for two days. Despite sustaining major damage, it was able to withstand conditions far worse than those for which it was designed, protecting the keepers inside.

Architectural value
The Haut-Fond Prince Light Tower is an elegant aesthetic engineering solution for a modern light tower. Its composition maximizes the visual impact of the innovative, waisted caisson structure, in balance with the horizontal accommodation unit and vertical pillar light. Although not the first light tower to use a caisson design of this type, the Haut-Fond Prince light tower is situated in a much more challenging and dangerous location than earlier examples. The caisson’s ability to resist the climatic stresses of ice and waves in this location, the efficiency of its radial interior layout of living and working bays, and the integrated helipad on the deck above attest to the building’s very good functional design. Based on a custom plan of the Department of Transport, the steel and reinforced concrete structure was constructed using proven marine technologies and standard industrial materials for the time. Its careful craftsmanship and durable, good quality materials are evidenced by its survival of the 1966 storm.

Environmental value
The light tower sits in the St. Lawrence River at the mouth of the Saguenay River, south of Tadoussac Bay. Surrounded by water, it is anchored to the hazardous shoal below. Despite repairs and rebuilding of the caisson to secure its attachment, the relationship between the structure and its site has retained its maritime aura. The Haut-Fond Prince is one of a number of light towers in the vicinity that are visited by tour groups from both sides of the St. Lawrence. As such, it reinforces the human presence and river life in the area. It is promoted by government departments as an icon of modern Canadian light tower design, and has been featured as a modern marine structure in many national publications. The image of Haut-Fond Prince appears as one of four examples of modern light towers in Canada Post’s 1984-85 series on the Lighthouses of Canada, stressing its symbolic value at the national level.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Haut-Fond Prince Light Tower should be respected:

— The unique juxtaposition of geometric shapes and volumes that gives the light tower its distinctive profile, demonstrated by:
— The sharply waisted caisson, inspired by Engineering priorities for ice-breaking;
— The disc-like accommodation unit with its distinctively modern form, and
— The slender offset pillar light with its horizontal stripes and proportionate, flared lantern;
— Its contrasting red and white colour scheme;
— The attention to details, such as the rhythmic fenestration pattern on the lower windows, and segmented design of the simple iron pipe railings;
—The integrated helicopter pad on the roof of the accommodation unit.
— The efficient circular interior space with living and working spaces radiating from a central circulation hub;
— Its relationship with its surroundings as one of a number of light towers in the area.