Description of Historic Place

The Mallorytown Landing Pavilion is situated on a rocky bluff on the riverfront in the St. Lawrence Islands National Park of Canada. It is an octagonal, single-storey wooden structure with an octagonal hipped roof that is used as a visitor centre. The building features large gabled dormers and heavy stone piers, two of which flank the main entrance, while the exterior walls are clad in clapboard siding. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

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

Historical Value
The Mallorytown Landing Pavilion is a very good example of a building associated with the development of Canada’s national park system and early Canadian tourism. It is also one of the best examples of a building associated with the development of recreational facilities by the federal government at the beginning of the 20th century as a result of increased public demands. The site was donated to the federal government and set aside for park use in 1904, in response to increasing private development in the Thousand Islands and concern over the lack of public park space. The Mallorytown Landing Pavilion was one of several picnic shelters commissioned by the Department of Indian Affairs in response to the public demand for camping and picnicking facilities. The Pavilion is one of the oldest picnic shelters in the national parks system.

Architectural Value
The Mallorytown Landing Pavilion is a good example of the picturesque/rustic aesthetic used for recreational facilities in urban and suburban parks during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The heavy stone piers conform to the dominant national park vocabulary of the period. Good functional design is seen in the interior configuration, while good craftsmanship is evidenced in the masonry.

Environmental Value
The Mallorytown Landing Pavilion is compatible with the picturesque character of its riverfront setting and is a familiar landmark within the park.

Sources: Kate MacFarlane, Twenty Eight Buildings, St. Lawrence Islands National Park, Ontario, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office, Reports 93-023 through 93-038; Mallorytown Landing Pavilion, St. Lawrence Islands National Park, Heritage Character Statement 93-026.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Mallorytown Landing Pavilion should be respected.

Its good aesthetics, functional design and quality craftsmanship, for example:
- its direct aesthetic connections to urban park amenities of the period;
- its picturesque aesthetic as manifested in the octagonal hipped roof with large, gabled dormers and decorative, wooden rafter ends, and the heavy, stone piers.

The manner in which it reinforces the picturesque character of the setting as evidenced in:
- its location on a rocky bluff overlooking the St. Lawrence River;
- its relative absence of other structures in the immediate vicinity;
- its familiarity to park visitors and the local population.