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Canadian Pacific Railway Station

301 Pacific Ave (at 3rd St. NE.), Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, R1N, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1992/06/01

Exterior photo; Murray Peterson, 1992.
Exterior photo
No Image
No Image

Other Name(s)

n/a

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1893/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2006/02/23

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Canadian Pacific Railway Station(CPR) at Portage la Prairie is a one-and-a-half-storey, Romanesque Revival railway station, built in 1893. The formal recognition is confined to the railway station building itself.

Heritage Value

The Canadian Pacific Railway Station illustrates Portage La Prairie’s importance as the point of origin of the western section of Canada’s first transcontinental railway system. The station reflects Portage La Prairie’s financial recovery following a late-1880s depression, and its importance as a major western railway and agricultural centre.

Designed by Montreal architect Edward Colonna, the Portage La Prairie station is a subdued example of the Romanesque Revival style. The style is most evident in the building’s heavy, rusticated base and its massive, round-headed arched entrances.

The Portage La Prairie station retains its relationship to remnants of the large railway complex and rail-dependent industry in the vicinity, including open spaces surrounding the station, a small amount of switching track and the CNR Station and a small stock of turn-of-the-century buildings that are within view.

Sources: Heritage Character Statement, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, October 1992; and Murray Peterson, Railway Station Report 109, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Canadian Pacific Railway Station at Portage la Prairie include:
-its strong horizontal massing, reinforced by the banding of stone and masonry along its base and by the hip roof with heavy overhanging eaves
-its roof line, consisting of a slightly bellcast hip roof, interrupted on both north and south slopes by gable dormers, with large, overhanging eaves on all sides supported by large wooden brackets
-its materials and detailing, including the heavily textured stone base with polychromatic brick surface above, the heavy wooden brackets supporting the eaves, the brick gable ends, the large, round-headed window and door openings with radiating stone heads and keystones, and the rectangular window and door openings with rusticated stone heads, keystones and lug sills.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Federal

Recognition Authority

Government of Canada

Recognition Statute

Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act

Recognition Type

Heritage Railway Station

Recognition Date

1992/06/01

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Function - Category and Type

Current

Leisure
Historic or Interpretive Site

Historic

Transport-Rail
Station or Other Rail Facility

Architect / Designer

Edward Colonna

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

National Historic Sites Directorate, Canadian Inventory of Historic Building Documentation Centre, 5th Floor, Room 525, 25 Eddy Street, Hull, Quebec

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

2084

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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