Description of Historic Place
Yeo Hall Mess Building, also known as Building No. 32, is one of a group of three buildings that sits on the west border of the parade square at Royal Military College. This austere, rectangular building is faced with rusticated limestone. The main façade is defined by a shaped, parapeted, central gable that rises above a two-storey bay. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Heritage Value
Yeo Hall Mess Building is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.
Historical Value
Yeo Hall Mess Building is associated with the emergence of a professional armed force in Canada through officer training. The structure was constructed as part of a building campaign to implement a uniform style of architecture at Royal Military College. The Hall was constructed during the Depression, despite general fiscal restraint.
Architectural Value
Yeo Hall Mess Building is a very good aesthetic example of the Collegiate Gothic style established as the uniform style of architecture for the Royal Military College at the turn of the century. The very good functional design and quality craftsmanship and materials are evidenced in the building’s axial symmetry, and the consistency of style and materials which exemplify the Beaux-Arts principles of functional efficiency, expandable design, and unity of form.
Environmental Value
Yeo Hall Mess Building maintains an unchanged relationship to its site. The building reinforces the character of the parade ground precinct and is familiar to those who work, live and frequent the campus.
Sources:Martha Phemister, Fort Lasalle Dormitory, Building 33, Yeo Hall/ Mess Building, Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Federal Heritage Building Review Office 89-047; Yeo Hall, Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, Heritage Character Statement, 89-047.
Character-Defining Elements
The following character-defining elements of Yeo Hall Mess Building should be respected.
Its Collegiate Gothic style, very good functional design and craftsmanship and materials, for example:
-the rectangular footprint with a shaped, parapeted, central gable rising above a two-storey bay on the principal façade;
-the engaged and angled buttressing, the Tudor-inspired mullioned windows, and bay window treatment of the towers;
-the copper roof;
-the axial symmetry;
-the limestone construction;
-the interior layout and finishes, including the decorative vaulted ceiling in the dining room.
The manner in which Yeo Hall Mess Building maintains an unchanged relationship to its site, reinforces the present character of the parade ground precinct setting and is a familiar landmark, as evidenced by:
-its ongoing cohesive relationship to the surrounding open, parade ground space, the adjacent buildings, and the connecting stone arches.
-its stylistic elements of the Collegiate Gothic and the rusticated limestone facing matching its adjacent buildings.
-its visibility given its prominent location and large scale.
-its familiarity as part of a grouping of historic buildings and as a recreation hall for the campus.
