Description of Historic Place

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station in Vallée Jonction is located at 397 Rousseau Blvd. in a complex of railway buildings near the Chaudiere River. It is an elegant brick one storey station with a complex roofline and a large porte-cochere that stands between two lines of railway track.

Heritage Value

The Vallée Jonction (CPR) station has been designated a heritage railway station for its architectural qualities, its historical interest and it integrity in relation to its environment.

The Vallée Jonction (CPR) station was constructed in 1917 on the Quebec Central railway line leased by the CPR. The Quebec Central, established in 1875, played a significant role in the development of the Beauce region where it expedited both settlement and development of the forestry industry. One of the communities it created was the divisional point of Vallée Jonction, called Beauce Jonction until 1949.

The present station was built in 1917, shortly after the CPR leased the Quebec Central line in 1913. Its construction reflects the CPR’s requirement to up-grade facilities cost effectively. The Vallée Jonction station uses distinctive concrete block materials that imitate stone. Its design, however, conforms to CPR Standard Plan No. 16a, a plan characterized by an immense varied roofline and a porte-cochere.

Heritage value of the Vallée Jonction CPR station resides in its remarkable integrity and in its composition which includes its T-shaped floor plan, roof form, exterior and interior finishes and details, and porte-cochere as well as its materials.

Source:
· Heritage Character Statement, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Vallée Jonction, Quebec, August 1991. Heritage Assessment Report RSR-035, 1991.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Vallée Jonction Canadian Pacific Railway Station include:

- its staggered footprint which moves from the recessed porte-cochere towards the track line in rectangular increments creating a T-shaped main station,
- its staggered three-part massing signalled by three body volumes, each with its own roof form: the open porte-cochere under a hipped roof, the main station with its higher hipped roof and projecting dormers, and the end portion of the station set with its body and dormered hipped roof perpendicular to the track,
- its substantial proportions and compact scale,
- the balance inherent in its vertical definition,
- the rhythmic placement of its apertures,
- the intricacy and prominence of its roof definition from all four perspectives,
- its picturesque details: irregular roof forms, broad eaves that serve as a passenger shelter, porte-cochere, dormers,
- its original materials: textured cement block walls, cement foundation, shingle roofing, smooth glass windows, wooden doors and trim,
- its masonry craftsmanship, and particularly the dormer on the stationmaster’s office which resembles a piece of wood,
- all original fabric inside the station, in particular surviving finishes of the public areas such as the hardwood floors, window embrasures, large upper wall cornice, and its pressed metal roof, and surviving furnishings such as the wickets, counters and wall accessories of the waiting room,
- its functional orientation which provides for access from tracks on two sides,
- legibility of the station’s original functional layout and spatial configuration,
- its patterns of access and circulation,
- the overall integrity of the building’s form, plan, material, and detail.