Description of Historic Place

The barn consists of a simple, rectangular wood-frame structure with a masonry foundation and a gable roof. The barn is the largest and eastern-most structure on the Virginia Moore Farm, and is located in an open field that slopes down to Boulevard Alexandre-Taché. The Virginia Moore Farm is located in the western section of the city of Gatineau. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building, which includes the western section’s surviving masonry foundation walls.

Heritage Value

The barn at the Virginia Moore Farm is a “Recognized” Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values:

Historical value:
As part of the Virginia Moore Farm, the barn is associated with the establishment of genteel working estates on the outskirts of Canadian cities during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The farm also retained an enduring equestrian tradition to which the barn is related. The original (or first) barn was built ca. 1910 for Robert Nicholas Slater, the son of James Dyson Slater and Esther Sparks, who together held significant property and commercial interests in the Ottawa area. In 1951, ownership of the farm passed from the Slater family to Virginia Rosalie Parker Moore who, in 1952, built a barn-arena on the same site as the previous building. The entire property was gifted to the NCC in 1973. As part of the Virginia Moore Farm, the barn is also a convenient example of the limited development along the north shore of the Ottawa River between Hull (Gatineau) and Aylmer that continued for much of the twentieth century. Due to the river road’s status as a privately controlled toll road, intense small-scale development was restricted and this scenic waterfront route was regarded as a desirable location for estate residences.

Architectural value:
The barn is a good example of traditional farm architecture in its simple, unadorned forms and choice of materials. Built to serve as an indoor riding ring, the barn consists of a rectangular wood frame building constructed of good quality materials and craftsmanship and features diagonal wood board siding, sloped coursed rubble foundation walls, a mud floor, and a gable roof sheathed with metal.

Environmental value:
The barn is the largest and eastern-most structure of the building complex, and as such it reinforces the pastoral character of the Moore Farm’s open fields and farmland. Located on the crest of a hill adjacent to the stable building, the barn balances the view of the stable from Boulevard Alexandre-Taché and is a visual landmark owing to its scale, and simple unadorned forms and materials. Together with the stable, the two buildings form an ensemble that speaks to the equestrian tradition of the estate.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the barn at the Virginia Moore Farm should be respected:

Its simple, unadorned forms and functional design, which speaks to its role as a riding ring on a genteel working estate with a strong equestrian tradition, and its good quality materials and craftsmanship as manifested in:
- the simple and well-proportioned composition of this rectangular barn and its gable roof;
- the building’s large open plan, grouping of (former) window and door openings on the south elevation, exposed wood roof trusses and mud floor;
- the use of natural materials such as diagonal wood board siding and a thick, coursed rubble foundation that follows the slope of the land;
- the spacing of the diagonal wood board siding which allows for the natural ventilation and diffused daytime lighting of the building; and,
- the coursed rubble foundation walls which form the footprint of the original section of the Barn constructed for Robert Nicholas Slater.

The manner in which the building reinforces the pastoral character of the Moore Farm’s open fields and farmland as evidenced in:
- its scale, and simple, unadorned forms and materials;
- its prominent location on the crest of a hill that slopes down to Boulevard Alexandre Taché; and,
- its proximity to and visual relationship with the stable building, which together form an ensemble that speaks to the tradition of the estate.