Description of Historic Place

The Rescue Building stands in the centre of Jasper near the railway station, the administration building, and the adjacent bank building. It is a rectangular, one-storey, hip-roofed, building with front and rear gable roofed projections in the Rustic Style. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Rescue Building is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values:

Historical value
The Rescue Building is a useful example of a building associated with increased automobile tourism after the Second World War. Built in the Rustic Style as a tourist information bureau with public lavatory facilities, it caters to the motoring public. The Rescue Building is also associated with the theme of the development of one of Canada’s first National Parks and of early Canadian tourism. Now associated with search and rescue it is also used as a storage area.

Architectural value
The Rescue Building is a good early example of the Rustic Tudor Revival Style favoured by the Architectural Division of the Parks Branch during the 1920s and 1930s. This and its symmetrical massing help the utilitarian, functional design appear more picturesque and cottage-like.

Environmental value
The Rescue Building remains a local landmark and reinforces the heritage character of its setting through its relationship to the adjacent 1925 Canadian National Railways (CNR) Station and older buildings in the vicinity.

Sources: Edward Mills, Rescue Building (former information bureau), Connaught Drive, Jasper Townsite, Jasper National Park, Alberta; Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Report 90-306; Rescue Building, Jasper National Park, Jasper, Alberta, Heritage Character Statement 90-306.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Rescue Building should be respected.

Its Rustic style and very good quality materials and craftsmanship as manifested in:
-the low symmetrical massing;
-the walls clad with stone up to eave level;
-the projecting entrances and gables with imitation half-timbering and stucco on the principal façade;
-the symmetrical placement of doors and small multi-paned casement windows;
-the stone fireplace and chimney.

The manner in which the Rescue Building reinforces and harmonizes with the picturesque character of the park setting and also in its historical relationship to the site, its relationship to the adjacent 1925 CNR Railway Station and older buildings in the vicinity as evidenced in:
-its aesthetic design which echoes the rustic character of Parks buildings.