Description of Historic Place

The Canadian Pacific Railway Station at Swift Current is comprised of three separate and adjacent buildings: Building 1 is a one-storey, passenger-ticket sales office and waiting room built in 1907 and extended in 1923; Building 2 is a two-storey dining room and telegraph building built in 1908-09 and extended in 1957; and Building 3 is a one-storey express building built in 1912. All three buildings are clad in red brick. The grouping is located two blocks south of, and visible from the end of Central Avenue in the commercial district of the city of Swift Current. The formal recognition is confined to the three buildings themselves, and does not include the surrounding site.

Heritage Value

The three buildings comprising the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Station at Swift Current reflect the town’s rapid growth during the early 20th century and the dramatic expansion of CPR facilities to accommodate this growth.

The three buildings are rare surviving Canadian examples of the accommodation of primary railway station functions in adjacent, but separate, buildings. They demonstrate the use of common architectural materials and details selected from the standard CPR component list, but applied in a differentiated manner to each building.

The three buildings retain much of their external integrity and remain in their original locations. The site includes the railway tracks. The group of station buildings functions as a local landmark, in the downtown core of Swift Current.

Sources: Heritage Character Statement, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, January 1992; and Heritage Research Associates and Great Plains Research Consultants, Railway Station Report 057, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the group of three buildings comprising Canadian Pacific Railway Station at Swift Current include:
-their common materials and detailing, including: red brick exteriors; low-pitched shingle roofs; low, exterior wainscots; similarly proportioned overhangs; and heavy wooden brackets

Character-defining elements of Building 1 include:
-its low, horizontal massing in a rectangular footprint
-its one-storey height, topped by a low-pitched, hip roof and set off by a vertical bay and gable combination on the track façade
-regularly placed windows extending to the roof line
-doors and double-hung windows topped by transom lights
-heavy wooden brackets
-the prominent eyebrow window in the rooftop gable

Character-defining elements of Building 2 include:
-its square footprint and two-storey height, topped by a low-pitched hip roof with low extending eaves, and broken by projecting brick gables
-the arrangement of gables along the eaves line on all four sides, including: a large central gable with flanking smaller gables on the track elevation, three identical gables on the town elevation, and one gable on each side elevation
-its more formal town-side façade, including: three two-storey bays with symmetrically arranged openings and topped by identical gables; and prominent stone headers above the windows which accentuate the horizontal lines of the building
-its more utilitarian track façade, including: a platform roof extending the full length of the façade and around to the sides; a large, central gable dominating the upper storey and flanked by smaller gables; double banks of apertures in the central gable; similar apertures in the flanking gables; and ground-floor apertures arranged in a pattern similar to those on Building 1

Character-defining elements of Building 3 include:
-its long, low massing on a rectangular footprint
-its one-storey height, capped by a low-pitched, hip roof and sitting on a concrete foundation rising to the wainscot line
-regularly placed windows extending to the eaves line in a manner similar to that of Building 1
-its more utilitarian design.