Description of Historic Place

Located on flat gravel in a remote Arctic site, the Air Terminal Building at the FOX-M Station, is a one-storey steel frame structure of rectangular plan covered by a medium pitched metal roof. The walls are composed of prefabricated ribbed metal cladding. Three sides of the structure have access openings and small windows. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Air Terminal building is a Classified Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
The Air Terminal at FOX-M main station, provides one of the best illustrations associated with the continental air-defence programs during the Cold War, the opening of the Canadian Arctic to federal government programs and services, the growth of Hall Beach, an important Arctic community, and its role in establishing and maintaining a Canadian military presence in the Canadian Arctic. As part of one of four main stations constructed for the c (DEW) Line, the Air Terminal as part of the FOX-M complex was part of a joint US-Canada effort to monitor Arctic airspace through an innovative radar and radio system designed to provide advance warning to North American military authorities of a possible air attack from the Soviet Union. FOX-M also served as a regional communications hub, supply center and administrative base for 8 to 10 auxiliary and intermediate stations in the area and the Air Terminal served the transport needs of the main station.

Architectural Value
The Air Terminal is a good example of a functional military structure. Its design reveals a unified design concept that resulted from a skillfully planned, expertly executed and highly funded building program. Its high quality materials and components are part of a design program that responded directly to both military considerations and to the remote Arctic location of the site. Its very good functional design and the gravel pad around the building area also demonstrates a competent engineering solution for quick construction in the permafrost zone of the Canadian North.

Environmental Value
The Air Terminal is located in the airfield sector of the FOX-M DEW Line Station adjacent to, and parallel with the Hangar. Together these buildings form a row, which is the first line of the grid pattern in which the station buildings are arranged. The structure sits on the gravel bed that covers the airfield sector and by which all the buildings and airfield are connected. The Air Terminal establishes the present military character of the setting and its contribution is reinforced by its scale. The DEW Line station is well known in the adjacent community of Hall Beach and visitors to the hamlet are often treated to a visit to the station.

Sources: FOX-M, Hall Beach, Nunavut, Federal Heritage Building Report 99-021; Air Terminal, FOX-M Station, Hall Beach, Nunavut, Heritage Character Statement 99-021.

Character-Defining Elements

The character defining elements of the Air Terminal building should be respected.

Its functional military structure, form, construction and materials as manifested in;
-its massive scale and massing as a rectangular structure with a pitched roof;
-its exterior ribbed prefabricated metal cladding and the size, form and spacing of door and window openings;
-the gravel pad as the primary landscape feature to provide a barrier between buildings and the permafrost and to create a level surface for vehicle accessibility on the site.

The manner in which the Air Terminal building defines the arrangement of buildings in the airfield sector and establishes the technological and military character of the FOX-M Station site in its military-industrial complex setting.