The Wardroom

A space for everyone

The Wardroom slips effortlessly between its many roles. Over the course of a typical day, nearly everyone on campus – students, faculty, staff – stops by the Wardroom. Professors and students chat informally, societies hold meetings, games of pool are played, and students study in comfortable chairs and carry on discussions, long after class is over. Over the years, readers of The Coast, Halifax’s alternative weekly, have ranked the Wardroom #1 “Best Student Hang” numerous times.

Come evening, the Wardroom shifts gears. Now it’s the campus pub and a place of music – lots of it. From open mic nights to karaoke and everything in between, King’s students make music in the Wardroom nearly every night of the week. Its rich history of spawning professional musicians helped King’s finish second in a 2013 CBC national poll of the most musical campuses.

History, restoration and renovations 

In 1941, the urgent need for qualified naval officers had outstripped available military training facilities. Universities were requisitioned into service, King’s among them. The Stadacona section of the Royal Canadian Navy’s Officer Training Establishment moved to our campus which effectively became a vessel designated HMCS Kings, a “stone frigate.” This is the genesis of today’s favourite campus gathering place, when the Girl’s Reception Room was converted into the officers’ mess or “Wardroom.” In 1945, civilian life returned to campus. But our four years as HMCS Kings left an enduring impression.

In 1979, thanks to alumni, faculty, the King’s Students’ Union and the Nova Scotia Naval Officers’ Association, this proud link was re-established with the opening of the new HMCS King’s Wardroom. After an absence of close to 30 years, the King’s community would again “repair to the Wardroom.”

At King’s, our academic and social worlds blend seamlessly – and nowhere more easily than in the Wardroom. Whether over morning coffee or a post-theatre beer, it all comes together here: the unique ebb and flow of life and learning that makes King’s King’s.

But after 30 years of service, the Wardroom needed repair. Renovations began in 2011 and concluded in 2016.

Once more, through the generosity of students, alumni, parents, faculty and friends the Wardroom continues to be the place where we come together as a community. It’s where we decompress and renew, find friends and make memories.