Description of Historic Place

Facing a large field, the Warrant Officer’s Quarters stands on the path linking the three batteries within Fort Rodd Hill. It is a simple, rectangular, two-storey, red brick structure with a pitched roof, and a prominent brick chimney. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Warrant Officer’s Quarters is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical Value:
The Warrant Officer’s Quarters, as an original part of the fort, is associated with British Royal Navy strategy for the Pacific in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also associated with Canadian coastal defence strategy between 1906-1956, particularly during the Second World War when the fort defences were modernised. The structure is now associated with Parks Canada, and the interpretation of Canadian coastal defence history.

Architectural Value:
The Warrant Officer’s Quarters is a very good example of a simple late-Victorian domestic building as evidenced in the rectilinear plan, massing and details. These reflect the functional design and construction method favoured by British military engineers of the period.

Environmental Value:
Located centrally, the Warrant Officer’s Quarters continue to reinforce the unchanged character of the site. Facing a large field, the structure stands on the path linking the three batteries of Fort Rodd Hill.

Sources:
Joan Mattie, Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgarde Light station, 603, Fort Rodd Hill Road, Colwood, B.C. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 96-096.

Warrant Officer’s Quarters. 603 Fort Rodd Hill Road, Colwood, British Columbia. Heritage Character Statement 96-096

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Warrant Officer’s Quarters should be respected, for example:

Its late Victorian functional design and good quality materials and craftsmanship such as:

-The simple, two-storey gable-fronted, rectangular massing of the structure.
-Its large brick chimneystack corbelled out at the top, and the attached single-storey extension containing a bathroom to the rear.
-The red brick walls, the white painted date stone centred in the entrance gable, and the continuous projecting base, just below sill height.
-The painted wood roof trim including barge boards, fascia boards and soffits, and also the doors' sash windows and their surrounds.
-The arrangement of the doors and wooden four over four-sash windows.
-The original configuration with respect to halls and staircases and original internal fixtures such as balustrades, fireplaces, finishes and trim, and doors.
-The attached brick enclosure.

The manner in which the Warrant Officer’s Quarters reinforces the present character of the Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site as evidenced by:

-Its role as a central element in the ensemble of defence structures and support buildings, which comprise the fort.
-Its contribution to the unity, integrity and overall 1890s design character of the fort due to its scale, form, style and finishes.
-Its ongoing relationship to the surrounding landscape and turfed open space, the batteries and the Second World War hut to the north.