Description of Historic Place

The Central Park Building is a three-storey building located at 1425 Main Street in Smithers, British Columbia. The historic place includes three sides of the building, excluding the rear 1980s addition.

Heritage Value

What is today known as the Central Park Building was constructed in 1925. It has historic value as the former provincial government building and courthouse. The building was designed by Henry Whittaker of the Department of Public Works, with construction completed by the Hanson & Shockley firm of Prince Rupert.

On the first floor of the building was the government agent's office, the BC Provincial Police office, a walk-in vault safe, and jail cells. On the second floor was the courtroom and (at various points in time) offices for the departments of Highways, Agriculture, Lands and Settlement, Forestry, as well as Fish & Wildlife. On the third floor was a residence for a policeman and his family. The building's design, including its two-toned colouring, complimented the look of the Canadian National Railway Station at the opposite end of Main Street. The two buildings were often called the "bookends" of Main Street.

In 1974 the building was decommissioned by the Province, and ownership was transferred to the Town of Smithers. It became the first municipally designated heritage building in Smithers in 1981. It has been a hub of arts and culture, including the home of the Bulkley Valley Museum and the Smithers Art Gallery, since the late 1970s. It has aesthetic value for its heritage architectural features, and social and cultural value as a former public government building, and as a current arts and culture building.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Central Park Building include:

External features:

- Hipped roof outline with shed dormers on third storey, north and south sides
- Shed dormer with three windows on third storey, west (Main Street) side of building
- Matching symmetrical lines of windows on the first and second storeys on the north, south, and west sides of the building
- North, south, and west side windows are original 1925 single hung windows with colonial style window grille (grid) of six panes
- Wood shake siding on second and third storey, including dormers
- Pattern of lighter and darker colouring between the storeys to differentiate the first from the second and third.
- Gable over front (Main Street facing) door
- Internal red brick chimney protruding from roof

Internal features:

- Metal walk-in vault safe door
- Original baseboards
- Square decorative window and door frames