Description of Historic Place

The Minnedosa Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Station, completed in 1910, is a 1 1/2-storey brick structure located at the southern end of Minnedosa's business district. The municipal designation applies to the building and its lot.

Heritage Value

The Minnedosa CPR Station is the only surviving example in Western Canada of CPR Special Plan H-1-20-6, one of the standardized architectural designs used by the company for important station points in its vast network. The long, sturdy brick building also is one of the few components that remain from a railway complex, including a roundhouse, that was once Minnedosa's largest employer. In addition to its passenger and freight functions, the station provided administrative space for the CPR's local traffic supervisors and shop managers. From its prominent location, the structure, notable for its attractive dormers and red brick finish with limestone and shingle trim, recalls Minnedosa's early position as a regional agricultural and transportation centre.

Source: Town of Minnedosa By-law No. 2427, May 1, 2001

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Minnedosa CPR Station site include:
- its location on Railway Avenue in Minnedosa and the building's placement, facing south, overlooking the CPR tracks

Key elements that define the building's well-appointed exterior character and CPR Special Plan H-1-20-6 design features include:
- the horizontal emphasis of the long, low, 1 1/2-storey rectangular massing, reinforced by a broad expanse of roof and stone banding elements
- the complex roofline consisting of a half-hipped roof with deep eaves supported on straight wooden brackets and prominent dormers on each of the track and town elevations
- the generous fenestration composed of flat-headed sash windows, multi-paned and in wood frames, set in singles, pairs and trios, some oriented horizontally, most as tall rectangles
- functional features such as the shallow well-lit station master's bay on the track elevation, freight doors, etc.
- the fine materials and finishes, including the red brick walls, the broad continuous bands of smooth limestone along the base and tight under the eaves, the smooth-cut stone lug windowsills, the cedar shingles on dormers and gable ends, etc.

Key elements that define the station's interior heritage character include:
- the conventional layout, with a centrally placed office and telegraph bay flanked on one side by the freight storage area and on the other by passenger waiting rooms, office space, etc.
- the durable materials and finishes, including the exposed brick walls of the freight storage area, the painted plank floors throughout, the painted plank dividing walls, the wood wainscotting and other trim, etc.