Description of Historic Place

The former Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) station at McCreary, Manitoba was built in 1912. It is a modest one-and-a-half-storey standard plan wooden station with the distinctive high hipped roof line readily identified with CNoR stations of its period. It is located beside Canadian National Railways (CNR) tracks on the eastern edge of the village of McCreary.

Heritage Value

The former Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) station at McCreary, Manitoba has been designated as a heritage railway station for its historical significance and environmental integrity, as well as its importance to the community.

This is a Third Class CNoR station built to Standard Plan Number 100-29 by the CNoR Architectural Division. It was constructed in 1912 on an 1897 CNoR rail line after McCreary’s requirement for passenger and agricultural freight service was well established. The location of the station influenced the physical development of McCreary and the tracks and station continue to form one boundary of the village. This is a small rural station which combines the varied operational requirements of a railway station with the domestic requirements of a station agent's quarters. Its grounds retain evidence of the original landscaping which reflected CNoR gardening efforts begun in 1916.

The heritage value of the McCreary station resides in those features which relate to its original design from CNoR Standard Plan 100-29: its exterior form, plan and materials of construction, and the high level of historical integrity of the building on its site.

Sources: Heritage Character Statement, McCreary CNoR Station, RSR-029, 16 September 1991. Heritage Assessment Report RSR-029, 1991.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the McCreary CNoR Station include:
- the station’s footprint which is defined as two parts, a square main building and irregular rectangular footprint, the block-like one and one-half storey massing of the main building under a high hipped roof with gable dormers and broken eaves, and the less substantial profile of its single-storey baggage wing with gable roof,
- its domestic scale and modest overall proportions
- the integral proportions of the decorative subdivisions of the station body,
- the prominence and intricacy of its roof definition from all four perspectives,
- the simple aesthetic design and rhythmic deployment of station body features: wainscot lines, exposed rafter ends, brackets, windows and doors,
- the smooth integration of a track shelter through the slightly bell-cast roof extension of its track-side roof,
- the common industrial materials used in its construction: wood siding, shingle and details,
- evidence of materials and forms added later as a form of fire proofing (stucco with wear strips set on original wainscot lines, asbestos shingle),
- the station’s platform frame construction technology,
- all original fabric inside the station,
- continued legibility of railway and domestic spaces within the building, as well as their specific functions (particularly with relation to railway operations).