Description of Historic Place

Kipling and District Museum is a Municipal Heritage Property located within the Town of Kipling at 201 4th Street. The property features a complex of six wood-frame buildings and two non-contributing buildings that form the core of the community’s museum.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Kipling and District Museum lies in its representation of historic life in the area. The property features a complex of historical buildings that has been used by the town as a museum since 1982. The buildings represent the types of structures that existed in the area during the community’s early years, and have been relocated or reconstructed on the site to preserve and exhibit important aspects of the town’s social and cultural history. The building types exhibited in the complex include a farmhouse, church, school, blacksmith’s shop, dentist’s office, and a gas station.

The heritage value of the property also lies in its spatial arrangement. The complex is designed to resemble a historic streetscape, with buildings arranged in two rows facing each other. The museum is situated on a large open space which facilitates the property’s evolving nature and will allow for the addition of more structures as they are acquired.

Source:

Town of Kiplng Bylaw 3-82.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Kipling and District Museum resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect property’s use as a museum, including the six buildings that house and preserve artifacts;
-the spatial arrangement of the complex resembling a streetscape on an open plot of land with space for further expansion of the museum;
-those elements of the Christ Lutheran church that represent the religious design of the building, including the rectangular form, simple massing, bell tower, and exterior religious symbols;
-those elements of the Ovans’ residence that represent early twentieth-century residential architecture, including the rectangular form, simple massing, brick construction, and front porch;
-those elements of the dentist's office that represent early twentieth-century medical facilities, such as its regular form and massing, and boomtown front façade;
-those elements of the gas station that represent a transportation service function, including its simple form and massing, gas pump, projecting canopy with simple supports columns, and advertising decals on the door;
-those elements of the Pipestone Lake School that represent early twentieth-century educational design, including its one-room design, flagpole, front dormer, simple form and massing;
-those elements of the Blacksmith shop, including the vernacular construction and simple form, that have been built to replicate early twentieth-century Blacksmith shops.