Description of Historic Place
The Service Building (No. 56), Storage Building, is located at the Central Experimental Farm (CEF) National Historic Site of Canada in Ottawa. The long, two-storey building is clad in board and batten wood siding on the ground floor and wood shingles on the second floor. The building’s shingled hip roof is marked by a broad overhang, dormer windows and two cupolas on the ridge. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Heritage Value
The Service Building is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.
Historical Value
The Service Building is associated with the agricultural research carried out by the Department of Agriculture through the experimental farms service in the early 20th century. It is associated, in particular, with the heightened interest in home preservation and canning of fruits and vegetables during the First World War and interwar years. The building is also recognized with the efforts of the CEF’s Horticultural Division to conduct and disseminate useful research in that area. Service Building is also associated with the second development phase at the CEF (1911-1919), when many new buildings were added to the site. Subsequent additions typify the third phase of development at the CEF (1920-1936), when additions to existing buildings were preferred over new construction.
Architectural Value
The Service Building is valued for its very good aesthetic design executed in the modified Shingle Style, which was applied to farm buildings on the CEF in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also of good functional design, special features include a large number of windows for natural light and ventilation, roof cupolas connected to air shafts to ventilate the building, and an underground root cellar. The building’s very good craftsmanship and materials follow the established vocabulary of the original set of farm buildings in its use of board and batten siding on the first floor, wood shingling on the second floor with a slight outward flare at the floorline, multi-lite windows, shingled roof and decorative ventilators.
Environmental Value
The Service Building is compatible with the agricultural character of its experimental farm setting. The building is familiar to visitors and employees of the CEF.
Sources: Building #56, Service Building, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office, Building Report INF, 96-135; Building #56, Service Building, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario, Heritage Character Statement, 96-135.
Character-Defining Elements
The following character-defining elements of the Service Building should be respected.
Its very good Shingle Style design, good functional design and very good materials and craftsmanship, for example:
-the two-storey massing with basement;
-the shingled hip roof with a broad overhang and carved brackets, decorated roof ventilators, dormers and cut-away eaves over the windows;
-the board-and-batten siding on the ground floor and the wood shingled side walls on the second storey with a slight outward flare at the floorline;
-the special features suited to its function as a workshop for canning and preserving fruits and vegetables, including the large number of windows for natural light and ventilation, roof cupolas connected to air shafts to ventilate the building, and an underground root cellar.
The manner in which the Service Building is compatible with the agricultural character of its experimental farm setting and is familiar within the immediate area, as evidenced by:
-its modified Shingle Style design and materials which harmonize with surrounding buildings at the experimental farm;
-its physical and visual relationship to its neighbouring structures, including the Horticulture Building, Dairy Technology Building and the Main Dairy Barn;
-its role as a component of the larger farm complex of buildings located on the Driveway, which makes it familiar to visitors and employees.
