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• 1 2024-01-05T12:42:01-08:00 The Tent Room: A Nexus of Change 5 by Kyle Kreutner plain 939620 2024-09-16T12:37:02-07:00 In recent years, the Tent Room has served decidedly more political functions than it did in its early life. As the tides of Canadian politics have changed, so too has the role of the Governor General, which now has more responsibilities and serves different governmental purposes than it did at the turn of the twentieth century. It is unsurprising then that the Tent Room itself has also changed, undergoing significant repairs and renovations that would ultimately transform the space from its century-old, dual-purpose state into a permanent, dramatically tented fixture at Rideau Hall (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 7).
  
  By the second half of the twentieth century, the room was showing its age. It had not been used as a racket court since the 1940’s or 50’s, and successive Governor Generals were increasingly disinclined to oversee the laborious raising and lowering of the tent (Macmillan 2004, 10; Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 5). In 1971 the room was updated with checkered vinyl flooring, modern light fixtures, and a new tent that returned to the original scheme of red and white stripes (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 15, 19-20). All of these changes however were largely superficial, and deeper, structural problems began to threaten the integrity of the century-old structure (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 16).
  
  In 1988, on the occasion of Rideau Hall’s 150th anniversary, major restoration efforts were finally undertaken in the Tent Room (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 7). Overseen by Governor General Mme. Jeanne Sauvé, the room was stripped down to Lord Dufferin’s original brick and wood assemblage, and completely renovated with a black and white Carrera marble floor, a restored musician’s gallery, and a new tent of Canadian-made, fire-retardant fabric. The new tent was specially designed to be lightweight and easy to remove, and is of red and coral-white stripes with thin blue accent lines (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 7-8, 15-16, 19-20). Two new fixtures were also added during this time - a pair of spectacular, brass and cut-glass chandeliers, designed and installed by the Canadian Unlight Limited company (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 18-19).
  
  It is interesting to note that until this time, no furniture other than tennis equipment had ever been bought specifically for the Tent Room. Instead, carpets and furnishings for formal entertainments were either reused or brought in from the ballroom (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 20). The period from 1988 to 1989, however, saw a suite of furniture either created or purchased for the space, including dining tables, a mahogany sideboard, a gilt and enamel mantle clock, and a series of gilt, faux-bamboo armchairs with turned legs (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 21). Excepting the tent, the only ornamentation now allowed on the walls are the mirrors and mouldings of the doors and window casements, and the portraits of Governor Generals specially selected to be hung there (Tent Room, NCCP 2003, 18, 21). Perhaps the creation of the furniture may be seen as symbolic of the room’s final transformation into an entertainment space, yielding at last all vestiges of its duality and fulfilling its potential as “the most unusual room” at Rideau Hall (Woods 1986, 197).
  
  The Tent Room and the ballroom ultimately served as integral components of one of Rideau Hall’s most significant alterations - the construction of a central, pedimented edifice on the building’s west front. It is possible that Lord Dufferin would have been proud to see the Hall finally achieve the classical symmetry he desired when his additions were used in the creation of the new façade in 1913 (Hubbard 1977, 134). The plans, drawn up during the tenureship of Governor General Lord Grey in 1911, were not executed until the time of his successor, the Duke of Connaught, and required the destruction of part of Thomas MacKay’s original mansion. The old 1838 Hall still remains, however, deeply embedded in the building. The last remaining part of "MacKay’s Castle" is neatly tucked away behind the Tent Room’s protective wing. So, the room remains: a remarkable nexus of change and preservation, and an important part of both Rideau Hall and the architectural history of Canada (Hubbard 1977, 117-119, 134-135).
  
  [Project completed for ARTH3810 in Fall 2019].