Tabaret Hall - Integrated Project Dossier (First Floor) (2016)

Tabaret Hall is a prominent neoclassical building located at 550 Cumberland Street in Ottawa, Ontario. Since it’s construction in 1905 by A.O. Von Herbulis of New York, the building has served a range of purposes from dormitories to a dining hall, until its current function today as the University of Ottawa’s central administrative hub, located in the heart of the campus. Originally the building housed students and professors, a rectory, a chapel, a gymnasium, several classrooms, and offices. The additions to the building in 1914 and 1922 were also designed by A.O Von Herbulis to help accommodate the rapid growth of the institution [2]. Today, Tabaret Hall is still a vital part of the university's campus. The high quality of neoclassical architecture this building exemplifies is unparalleled by any other buildings of similar style in Ottawa. The neoclassical architectural design of the building was unique to the era in which it was built, as many institutions in Canada had been hesitant to explore styles beyond the gothic revival. Tabaret Hall is also notable as it was one of the first buildings in Ottawa to employ a complete rein-forced concrete structure as a means to withstand potential fires - a lessoned learned from the destruction of the site’s previous building in 1903. The building bears the namesake of Father Joseph-Henri Tabaret, a noteworthy member of the Roman Catholic congregation known as the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate. As both a priest and an academic, Father Tabaret was appointed as the Rector of the College of Bytown. An ardent defender of bilingualism, Father Tabaret strove to ensure that the College of Bytown remained bilingual, and under his influence, the institution became an official university [3]. It was in recognition of his great contribution to the institution, and bilingualism in Canada, that the building was renamed Tabaret Hall in 1971. This is the Integrated Project Dossier compiled by a group of undergraduate students of the Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Program (Engineers and architects) at Carleton University for the CIVE3207 (ARCN4100) Historic Site Recording and Assessment course in 2016. The scope of work involved working on recording the first floor of this important building.