Description of Historic Place

The Canadian National Railways Station at Sayabec is a single-storey building with picturesque features and a high-hipped roof. It was originally located on the south edge of the village, just east of the point where rue Fenderson crosses the Canadian National Railway line. It was moved to its present location at 11 Highway 132 West in 1997.

Heritage Value

The Canadian National Railways Station at Sayabec was designated a heritage railway station for its historical, architectural and environmental qualities. Note that the station lost its environmental qualities when moved in 1997.

This station was built by the Intercolonial Railway in 1912, replacing a much earlier station. Sayabec had long been a railway point, and availability of railway transport encouraged development of a local wood milling industry that was thriving when this station was built, and continued to thrive for the first half of the 20th century after Canadian National Railways acquired the line.

The Intercolonial Railway built many stations to the same standard plan used at Sayabec. It was a one-storey station with a dominant hipped-roof with broad eaves supported by brackets. Sayabec is the best preserved example of stations of its type.

Heritage value of the Canadian National Railways Station at Sayabec resides in its high degree of interior and exterior integrity, and in those features of the station that reflect its standard plan. These include its high roof form, the materials and details of its composition, its interior layout and finish.

Sources: Heritage Character Statement, Intercolonial Railway Station, Sayabec, Quebec, September 1993; Heritage Assessment Report RSR-166, 1992.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Canadian National Railways Station at Sayabec include:

- the rectangular footprint, one-storey massing, and high-hipped roof of the station with a low blind dormer over the telegrapher’s bay,
- its substantial scale and regular proportions,
- the balance inherent in its vertical definition,
- the rhythmic placement of its apertures,
- the prominence of its roof definition,
- its tripartite body definition,
- its picturesque details: prominent roof form, multi-paned paired windows, broad eaves, varied gables, tower-like bay / dormer combination, wainscot, brackets,
- its original materials: wood walls set in three distinct patterns, wood details, trim, doors and windows, steel corner plates,
- all of the original fabric, furnishings and finishes inside the station, of which most survive,
- continued legibility of the station’s original functional layout and spatial volumes,
- continued use of long-term interior circulation and access patterns,
- the overall integrity of the building’s form, plan, material, and detail.