Westboro Beach Pavilion

Set on the edge of Westboro Beach, the Westboro Beach Pavilion consists of three hexagonal concrete towers with minimal ornamentation and tripartite pitched roofs. The towers sit on a concrete substructure that is integrated into the surrounding landscape with a lawn-covered roof and which is visible only from the beach. Sharply inclined heavy concrete canopies demark the two entrances between the towers and overlook an expanded terrace.

The Westboro Beach Pavilion is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical, architectural, and environmental values.

Historical value

The Westboro Beach Pavilion was constructed to enhance recreational and leisure use of the Ottawa River near the community of Westboro. It is closely associated with construction of the Ottawa River Parkway and the large-scale, long-term federal efforts to beautify the National Capital Region led by the National Capital Commission (NCC) and its predecessor organisations (Ottawa Improvement Commission; Federal District Commission). Beautification aimed to transform the capital’s shorelines from industrial use to a network of scenic leisure cultural landscapes. As one of the larger and most accessible beaches along the Parkway, Westboro Beach exemplifies these initiatives, as well as the development of outdoor recreation infrastructure across Canada. The Pavilion illustrates post-war evolution in Westboro and marks the shift from private to public ownership of the beach and park. Established as a privately owned bathing site in the early 1900s, Westboro Beach has long been a beloved gathering space for locals, and has welcomed residents and visitors ever since, even as ownership shifted. The Beach and Pavilion represent a successful collaboration between the NCC, the City of Ottawa, and the community of Westboro.

Architectural value

The Westboro Beach Pavilion is a very good example of late Modern and Brutalist influences leading to more Expressionist forms, and early exploration of Postmodernism in architecture. It was designed by Ottawa architect James William Strutt, who has many works in the region, and executed by contractor Moshe Fayed, who Strutt credited with playing a major role in the structure’s successful innovative craftsmanship. The Pavilion exemplifies Strutt’s approach to experimental design, environmental sensitivity, low-cost construction, straightforward assembly, and non-traditional, non-orthogonal geometry. The substructure is integrated into the topography, while the whimsical above-grade pavilion structures with geodesic-inspired roofs are focal points from both the Parkway and the river. The hexagonal plan is uncommon, requiring innovative triangular grids to develop the architectural drawings, and the design was influenced by novel theories on weight efficiency ratios.

Environmental value

The Pavilion’s site is bounded by a bicycle path to the south, the Ottawa River to the north, the edge of the sand beach to the west, and the edge of a parking lot to the east. The site is characterized by the beach, broad lawns, mature trees, paths, and minimal plantings. The substructure is embedded in the landscape, so that from the Parkway side, the Pavilion appears to be three separate structures, while from the beach it is clearly a single unit. The Pavilion reinforces the Parkway’s atmosphere of picturesque, cultivated natural recreation. It is the most significant landmark of Westboro Beach, is a visual marker of the necessary infrastructure for this man-made beach, is known to the community of Westboro, and is a visual landmark for Parkway users. The Pavilion’s scale and proximity to the Champlain Bridge—a major interprovincial access route—make it more visible than many other beach pavilions in the region.

The character-defining elements of the Westboro Beach Pavilion that should be respected include its:

-Brutalist-inspired extensive use of concrete with minimal ornamentation, limited to subtle surface striations;

-Expressionist and Post-Modern reinterpretation of European beach huts, playfulness of mass and scale, and whimsical geometry;

-general form, with three separate hexagonal masses with tripartite pitched roofs placed on an obscured substructure plinth;

-integration into a sloped site with lawn covering the substructure, serving to hide the mass of the base from view of the Parkway, while from the beach it is revealed, creating an ensemble that is both human scale and monumental;

-the use of poured-in-place reinforced concrete panels;

-sharply inclined heavy concrete canopies to indicate entrances;

-custom-made steel doors and window coverings.