Description of Historic Place

The Vehicle Garage is a simple, rectangular one-storey building with a gabled roof covered in cedar shingles.. The white exterior walls are sheathed with horizontal board siding. Diagonal boards were added over the boards on the exterior south, east and west walls. The main elevation has a single door. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Vehicle Garage is a Classified Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values:

Historical value:
The Bar U Ranch is one of the best examples of the national theme of ranching in Alberta, and its importance in the development of Canada. The Vehicle Garage building is a component of the Bar U Ranch. The building is also associated with Patrick Burns, who purchased the Bar U Ranch in 1927 to add to his vast cattle empire. Burns who is recognised as the kingpin of the meat processing industry in western Canada during the mid-1920s, has been designated a person of national significance.

Architectural value:
The Vehicle Garage is a very good example of an agricultural storage building of the early 1900s illustrating building practices at the Bar U and in the region. Its value lies in its functional design and form, simple massing, common construction details, exterior finish, interior layout and setting. It has a character of simplicity and functionality.

Environmental value:
The Vehicle Garage is part of a cohesive complex of buildings arranged to great functional effect in an exceptional ranch setting. The Vehicle Garage contributes to the character of the Bar U Ranch.

Sources:
Edward Mills, Historic Bar U Ranch Headquarters, Longview, Alberta. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 92-017

Vehicle Garage (Building 35), Bar U Ranch, Longview, Alberta. Heritage Character
Statement 92-017

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Vehicle Garage should be respected, for example:

Its agricultural storage type and good quality materials and craftsmanship as manifested in:
- the light frame structural system.
- the gabled roof clad with shingles.
- the exterior and interior horizontal boards
- its value as an integral element on an early Canadian ranch.

The manner in which the building reinforces the character and setting of the Bar U Ranch.