Doors Open Saskatoon
Important Note: The sites from the Canadian Register of
Historic Places listed in this article participating in the Doors
Open Saskatoon event are listed because they have participated in
past Doors Open events, not because it is guaranteed
that they will have their doors open again this year. For a
list of this year's participating buildings, please consult Doors Open Saskatoon.
It's time for Doors Open Saskatoon! For the fifth consecutive
year Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is holding its Doors Open Saskatoon on
Sunday, June 5th from noon until 5:00 pm. Join the
people of Saskatoon by going out and enjoying this wonderful
opportunity! For one day, Saskatoon's heritage buildings and
museums will have be open to the public, and completely free of
charge! Embrace this chance to visit fascinating buildings that are
usually closed!
Doors Open Saskatoon is part of a wider initiative that has
spread across Europe and now across Canada as well. some of
the first Doors Open events were in France in 1984 and
in Glasgow, Scotland in 1990 and was intended to
offer citizens the opportunity to familiarize themselves with
the heritage buildings around them. Doors Open came to Canada in
2000 with the first Doors Open in Toronto and since then has spread
across Canada.
The Doors Open concept is simple: buildings throughout Canada
that have architectural and historical significance, often not
usually open to the public, open 
their doors to visitors
free of charge, sometimes featuring guided tours, exhibits, and
displays. The goal of Doors Open events is to allow people to
explore and enjoy their local built heritage. Heritage buildings
are important in that they are artefacts of everyday life. These
buildings and their stories reveal a great deal about our society,
values and history. Doors Open Saskatoon event hopes to attract
people of all ages and levels of interest to enjoy historical
buildings of Saskatoon and become more aware of their built
heritage. This event was first launched in 2005 by the city of
Saskatoon's Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee (MHAC) in
partnership with the Saskatoon Heritage Society and Meewasin Valley
Authority.
Some of the many interesting buildings in Saskatoon which have
participated in past Doors Open events are on the Canadian Register
of Historic Places. These 
buildings range from
private residences to a public theatre. Doors Open Saskatoon offers
people the chance to visit one of the oldest buildings in
Saskatoon, the Marr Residence, at 326 - 11th
Street East. This small white house has served as a private
residence since it was built in 1883 and even briefly served as a
field hospital during the North-West Uprising in 1885.
Another residence in Saskatoon that has been open to the public
is the Superintendent's Residence on the
Saskatoon Zoo and Forestry Farm. This residence, built in 1913,
served as a home to the Superintendent of the Saskatoon 
Forestry Farm and a model
homestead for newcomers to the Prairies. Saskatoon has also
featured numerous churches, including the Knox United Church, Rugby Chapel and St. John's Anglican Cathedral, all of
which were opened to the community so that they may learn more
about churches of the early twentieth century.
An interesting little building that has opened its doors in past
years is the Broadway Theatre, which has stood on
the Broadway Avenue in
downtown Saskatoon since 1946 and still functions as a movie
theatre to this day. Another building open during Doors Open
Saskatoon is the Little Stone Schoolhouse, which unlike
the Broadway Theatre no longer serves its original purpose and
exist only because of the efforts of past generations of
Saskatooners. Constructed in 1887 the schoolhouse was replaced by a
larger educational facility required by a community with a 
growing population in
1910. In 1911 the schoolhouse was dismantled and then reassembled
on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan.
Historic Places on the Canadian Register are only a fraction of
the buildings in Saskatoon that will be open during the Doors Open
event, so go out and enjoy them all. Indulge your curiosity
and visit as many buildings as possible on June 5th,
2011. Take advantage of Doors Open to explore all the
fascinating heritage buildings in Saskatoon!
