Description of Historic Place

Located in a remote arctic area the Hangar building is a large square structure whose pointed roof peak forms a pediment, which is set between two columns. The columns serve as housing for the panel doors of the hangar and pre-fabricated metal paneling clad the exterior walls. The metal trim of the pediment and the towers is painted red. An emergency siren tower is set on the northwest corner of the hangar. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

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

Historical Value
The Hangar building 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 (Distant Early Warning) DEW Line, the Hangar 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 Hangar was a critical component in the logistical operations for supplying and staffing the DEW Line station.

Architectural Value
The Hangar building 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. It is distinguished by its massive scale, symmetrical, classical façade composition with strong vertical lines and its solid appearance counterbalanced by its thin skin of metal-paneled cladding.

Environmental Value
The Hangar, located adjacent to the Air Terminal Building is of strategic value in establishing the technological/ military character of the military-industrial complex setting. Together these two buildings represent the first line grid pattern that defines the arrangement of buildings and the aviation function of the airfield sector. The structure sits on the gravel bed that covers the airfield sector and connects all the buildings to the airfield and to one another. The Hangar’s contribution to the setting is reinforced by its scale and easily discernible function. The DEW line station is well known in the adjacent community of Hall Beach and visitors are often treated to a visit to the station.

Sources:
FOX-M, Hall Beach, Nunavut, Federal Heritage Building Report 99-021.

Hangar, FOX-M Station, Hall Beach, Nunavut, Heritage Character Statement, 99-021.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character defining elements of the Hangar building should be respected, for example:

Its functional military structure, form, construction and materials manifested in;
-Its massive scale and massing of a square structure with a pitched roof that is 10m above grade level at its highest point and 6.5m above grade level at the ends, and an emergency siren tower surmounting the northwest corner of the hangar.
-Its roof supported by modified Pratt steel trusses that span the width of the building and are anchored into a steel frame, which rests on concrete footings.
-Its classical composition seen in the façade with the roof peak forming a pediment set between two columns which serve as housing for the large sliding panel doors which create strong vertical lines, its smooth lower panels and its protective coverings in column spaces.
-Its cladding of pre-fabricated metal-panels.
-The painted bright red metal trim of the pediment and the towers.
-Its gravel pad as the primary landscape feature.

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