Description of Historic Place

Dominion Exhibition Display Building Nº 2 is a stately wooden exhibition building located in the midst of the City of Brandon’s exhibition grounds. The structure’s scale, materials and classical elements proclaim its early 20th-century origins.

Heritage Value

Dominion Exhibition Display Building Nº 2 was designated a national historic site of Canada because:
- it is the only known surviving building constructed for the Dominion Exhibition held annually from 1879-1914;
- it is located in a city which was, and continues to be, a focal point and important centre in the agricultural development of the west;
- it is a good example of the exhibition halls inspired by the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893; and
- it has clear roots in the tradition and style of exhibition halls, and expresses very well the exuberance and monumentality of its Beaux-Arts models.

Designed by architects Shillinglaw and Marshall, this grand Beaux-Arts-style building was constructed in 1913 for agricultural display at the annual Dominion Exhibition, an initiative of the Department of Agriculture.

Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, December 1998.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements of this site include its:
- rectangular, single-storey massing,
- original open interior plan with tall central nave,
- designed provision of natural light through clerestory and large windows in side elevations,
- exposed interior wooden trusses,
- exterior wood sheathing,
- classical articulation including columned porticoes, pediments, stepped parapets, domed corner pavilions, pilasters,
- location on exhibition grounds.