Description of Historic Place

The British Yukon Navigation Company (BYN) Ticket Office is located on the Dawson City riverfront at the start of the Dempster Highway. This heavy-timber building is a low, single-storey, hipped roof form oriented to both Front Street and the Yukon River. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The British Yukon Navigation Company Ticket Office is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
The BYN Ticket Office is one of the best examples of a building associated with the development of Dawson City as a provisioning centre for the Klondike gold fields after the gold rush. All other riverfront buildings and facilities have been removed, leaving this structure as the only surviving example of early riverfront construction associated with freighting and warehousing. Its original construction, various functions, and evolution illustrate several phases of Dawson’s development.

Architectural Value
The BYN Ticket Office is valued for its good aesthetic design. Its deep-bracketed eaves are reminiscent of railway station design. Of good functional design, its value also resides in those aspects of its design, structure and fabric that relate to its warehousing and ticket office function.

Environmental Value
The BYN Ticket Office is compatible with the character of its riverfront setting. The building is well known to all those who live, work and frequent Dawson City.

Source:
British Yukon Navigation Company Ticket Office, Dawson, Yukon, Heritage Character Statement, 88-012.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the BYN Ticket Office should be respected.

Its good aesthetic design, functional design, materials and craftsmanship, for example;
- the low, single storey massing of the hipped roof structure;
- the deep bracketed eaves;
- the heavy-timber, braced frame construction;
- the aspects of its design that relate to its warehousing and ticket office function.

The manner in which the BYN Ticket Office is compatible with the character of its riverfront setting and is a well-known building in Dawson City, as evidenced by:
- the overall design of the building which is a key element on the Dawson riverfront;
- its familiarity given its use as a visitor centre for all those who enter Dawson City;
- its visibility given its prominent location at the start of the Dempster highway.