Description of Historic Place

The Prince Albert Armoury is located on open terrain adjacent to exhibition grounds, surrounded by commercial and residential developments. A large brick building on a rusticated stone base, it is designed in a stripped down Medieval Revival style. Crenellated towers flank its troop door. It is designed around the large drill hall. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Prince Albert Armoury is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical Value:
The Prince Albert Armoury is associated with the reform and enhancement of the militia begun under the Minister of Militia, Frederick Borden who served from 1896 to 1911. Armouries such as this were planned not simply as storage places but as lecture halls and community centres for year-round military activity. This mandate for expanded militia training was in response to the growing threat of European war and coincided with tremendous local and national growth. It remains in use by ‘B’ Company of the North Saskatchewan Regiment, several cadet units, and by the local community for recreational purposes.

Architectural Value:
The Prince Albert Armoury is valued for its good aesthetic design. Executed in the baronial Gothic style, it is one of a small number of examples of ‘Standard Drill Hall Class E’ built between 1910 and 1915. The Prince Albert Armoury embodies aesthetic and functional characteristics associated with the military developments of the period that resulted in a straightforward utilitarian design with modest architectural embellishment. Good functional design is evidenced in the large, unobstructed drill hall with exposed steel trusses, its gallery and supporting arcades. The decorative Flemish style parapets show very good craftsmanship.

Environmental Value:
The Prince Albert Armoury maintains an unchanged relationship to its site is compatible with the present mixed commercial and residential character of the setting. It is a familiar landmark in the neighbourhood.

Sources:
Bryan Dewalt, Prince Albert Armoury,10th Street East and 8th Street Avenue East, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 87-123

Prince Albert Armoury, 10th Street East and 8th Street Avenue East, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Heritage Character Statement 91-029

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Prince Albert Armoury should be respected:

Its good baronial Gothic aesthetic, very good functional design, and very good quality materials and craftsmanship, for example:

- The building’s two-storey massing, symmetry, large scale and balanced proportions.
- The twin-towered frontispiece of the main facade with projecting, symmetrical, two-storey wings and pavilion ends, and the two-storey, gable-roofed drill hall.
- The spare use of decorative elements that include, the Flemish style parapets, the crenellated turrets and the segmental stone arches, the brick arched window and stone coping.
- The interior’s unobstructed drill hall utilizing exposed, painted steel trusses that span its full width.
- The round-arched brick arcades supporting viewing galleries and the small, cantilevered deck over the main entrance.
- The functional, internal arrangement of drill hall and smaller subsidiary is reflected in the window arrangement.

The manner in which the Prince Albert Armoury maintains an unchanged relationship to its site, is compatible with the urban character of the setting, and is a familiar landmark in the area, as evidenced by:

- The ongoing relationship of the building to its surrounding open site near the exhibition grounds.
- The baronial Gothic style that is compatible with the mixed commercial and residential setting.
- The structure’s specialized military role that make it a well-known community landmark.