Description of Historic Place

Vintage Power Machines is a Municipal Heritage Property located 12 kilometres southwest of the City of Prince Albert in the Rural Municipality of Prince Albert No. 461. The 12.1-hectare property features six historic wood-frame buildings which have been relocated to the site and numerous non-contributing contemporary structures, all of which house, and are set amongst, a large collection of historic farming and lumbering implements and machinery.

Heritage Value

Vintage Power Machines is of heritage value for its use as a space to display historic buildings and artifacts from the Prince Albert area. The Museum was established in 1980 to collect and display farming and logging artifacts from the district, and moved to the present site in 1990. To help house these collections, and assist in interpreting the story of the district’s history, six historic buildings - a school, church, store, railway station, service station and a farmhouse - were relocated to the site from surrounding communities.

The heritage value of Vintage Power Machines also resides in the vernacular architecture of the Meath Park Presbyterian Church, the Donnybrook School, the Giles farmhouse, the Brancepeth railway station, Nelson’s Garage and the general store.

The church was moved from Meath Park where it was built in 1932 and opened in 1933 as a Presbyterian Church. The church served a congregation that was founded in 1922. The building is an interesting example of vernacular architecture, being a rectangular, gable roof structure with a short corner tower and spire. The windows are a distinctive feature of the building and comprise triangular transom lights that reference Gothic-arch windows.

Originally, the school served the Donnybrook School District (No. 1222) near the Village of Macdowall from 1906 to 1960. The school aslo served the religious needs of the community, both as home to a Sunday school and, from 1921 to 1970, as home to the local congregation of the Church of Nazarene. Typical of school houses of the period, the building features a gable-on-hip roof, banked windows, and wood frame construction and cladding.

The general store is characteristic of rural stores in Saskatchewan in the early twentieth century and is an example of functional, vernacular commercial architecture. The store features two large windows for the display of goods and walls lined with shelves.

The farmhouse was built about 1901 and exemplifies many farmhouses built at the time. It is of the type that many pioneers built after first inhabiting a log house for several years and represented an upgrade. It is distinguished by its milled lumber and factory-produced parts. This house was owned by the Giles family of the Red Deer Hill area.

The railway station is a modest, rectangular wood-frame structure of the type constructed for temporary purposes, railway sidings or for use in very small communities. The station was originally situated in Brancepeth, Saskatchewan on a Canadian National Railway line and was likely built in 1935. Part of the building was used as a freight shed while the other part was the agent’s office and passenger waiting room.

The service station dates from the 1930s or 1940s and was originally located in the Village of Weirdale. The vernacular structure was owned by Oscar Nelson and was known as Nelson’s Garage. The false-fronted building retains its two large garage door openings and office.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Prince Albert No. 461 Bylaw No. 2-2002.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of Vintage Power Machines resides in the following character-defining elements:

- those elements which reflect the use of the property as a place to store and display artifacts, including the use of the historic buildings for interpreting the history of the region and the accessibility of the property to facilitate the relocation of additional buildings and artifacts that assist in commemorating the history of the Prince Albert district
-those elements of the church which speak to its vernacular architecture, such as its wood-frame construction, rectangular form, gable roof with wooden shingles, open eaves, exposed rafter tails, lapped wooden siding, corner tower with pyramidal roof and battened double doors, and the pointed windows;
-those elements of the school which speak to its vernacular architecture, such as its wood-frame construction, rectangular form with rectangular (gable roof) addition, bevelled and lapped wooden siding gable-on-hipped roof with wood shingles, multi-pane and hung-sash windows;
-those elements of the general store which speak to its vernacular architecture, such as its wood-frame construction, rectangular form, gable roof with open eaves and exposed rafter tails, lapped wooden siding and large display windows;
-those elements of the farmhouse which speak to its representative farm-house architecture, such as its wood-frame construction, two-storey rectangular form and side-hall plan, lapped wooden siding, front-gable roof;
- the cut-away-bay window, glazed front door with patterned, stained glass of the farmhouse;
-those elements of the railway station which speak to its architecture, such as its rectangular, one-storey form, wood-frame construction, bevelled wood siding, wood-shingled gable roof with exposed rafter tails, two-over-two hung sash windows, panelled doors, interior tongue-and-groove wall and ceiling cladding, interior two-room configuration comprising a freight shed and waiting room / office:
-those elements of the service station which speak to its vernacular architecture, such as its rectangular one-storey, shed-roof form, wood-frame construction, false-front façade, two large garage door openings, office windows and side entrance, and the interior plan comprising service bays and an office.