diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index bde3cbf76..be2584b4e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ option(ENABLE_FGCOM      "Set to ON to build the FGCom application (default)" ON
 option(ENABLE_FLITE      "Set to ON to build the Flite text-to-speech module" ON)
 option(ENABLE_QT         "Set to ON to build the internal Qt launcher" ON)
 option(ENABLE_TRAFFIC    "Set to ON to build the external traffic generator modules" ON)
+option(ENABLE_FGQCANVAS  "Set to ON to build the Qt-based remote canvas application" ON)
 
 include (DetectArch)
 
@@ -301,7 +302,13 @@ if (ENABLE_QT)
 		message(STATUS "  Qt5Widgets version: ${Qt5Widgets_VERSION_STRING}")
 		message(STATUS "  Qt5Widgets include dir: ${Qt5Widgets_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
 		set(HAVE_QT 1)
+  else()
+    # don't try to build FGQCanvas if Qt wasn't found correctly
+    set(ENABLE_FGQCANVAS OFF)
 	endif()
+else()
+  message(STATUS "Qt support disabled")
+  set(ENABLE_FGQCANVAS OFF)
 endif (ENABLE_QT)
 ##############################################################################
 
diff --git a/utils/CMakeLists.txt b/utils/CMakeLists.txt
index 28ae66fa1..fd4b1bbb7 100644
--- a/utils/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/utils/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -35,4 +35,6 @@ if(ENABLE_TRAFFIC)
     add_subdirectory(traffic)
 endif()
 
-add_subdirectory(fgqcanvas)
+if (ENABLE_FGQCANVAS)
+  add_subdirectory(fgqcanvas)
+endif()
diff --git a/utils/fgqcanvas/CMakeLists.txt b/utils/fgqcanvas/CMakeLists.txt
index 3bd54b566..3538ab1b5 100644
--- a/utils/fgqcanvas/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/utils/fgqcanvas/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,12 +4,7 @@ set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED YES)
 
 project(FGQCanvas)
 
-find_package(Qt5 5.1 COMPONENTS Widgets WebSockets)
-if (Qt5Widgets_FOUND)
-  message(STATUS "  Qt5 version: ${Qt5Widgets_VERSION_STRING}")
-  message(STATUS "  Qt5 include dir: ${Qt5Widgets_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
-endif()
-
+find_package(Qt5 5.3 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Widgets WebSockets)
 
 set(SOURCES
   temporarywidget.cpp
@@ -37,7 +32,6 @@ set(SOURCES
   canvastreemodel.h
 )
 
-if (Qt5Widgets_FOUND)
 qt5_wrap_ui(uic_sources temporarywidget.ui)
 
 add_executable(fgqcanvas ${SOURCES} ${uic_sources})
@@ -49,4 +43,3 @@ target_include_directories(fgqcanvas PRIVATE ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR})
 
 # so ui_foo.h files are found
 target_include_directories(fgqcanvas PRIVATE ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR})
-endif()