Description of Historic Place

The Canadian National Railways Station at Melville is a two-storey railway station built in 1908. It is situated at the southern edge of the city of Melville, and its location at the foot of Main Street continues to be the focal point of the community. The formal recognition is confined to the railway station building itself.

Heritage Value

The Melville station illustrates the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway’s (GTPR) building program along its first-class, transcontinental main line through Western Canada to the Pacific. The creation of Melville as a major divisional point determined both the geographic layout and the economic development of the town, with the railway station as its focal point.

The use of a substantial “Special” design for the Melville station reflects its status as an important terminal, junction and divisional point on the main line. The distinctive twin-gabled plan is unique in Saskatchewan, although similar plans were used in Manitoba and Ontario.

The railway station site retains many of its original functional components, including railway buildings, yards and warehouses. The railway station continues to serve as the visual focal point of the community and maintains its relationship with the city’s commercial core.

Sources: Heritage Character Statement, Canadian National Railways Station, Melville, Saskatchewan, October 1992; and Analytica Associates, Railway Station Report 117, Canadian National Railways Station, Melville, Saskatchewan.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Canadian National Railways Station at Melville include:
-its horizontal massing, consisting of a substantial, two-storey rectangular structure with a projecting operator’s bay at ground level, and topped by a hipped roof
-its roof line, consisting of a hipped roof enlivened by twin, half-timbered gables on both town and track side elevations
-the large, overhanging, platform canopy, supported at irregular intervals by distinctive wooden brackets, which runs the full length of the track side elevation and partially extends to the side elevations
-smaller canopies, supported by wooden brackets, which extend over the entrances on the town side elevation
-the balanced arrangement of openings on all elevations
-surviving original window units, with three-over-three sashes