Description of Historic Place

Wadena Glass and Mye Signs is a Municipal Heritage Property situated on two municipal lots in the Town of Wadena. The designation applies to a two-storey, brick building located at 93 Main Street North, Wadena’s main thoroughfare.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Wadena Glass and Mye Signs building lies in its association with the Sterling Bank of Canada. Built in 1921, the building has held both commercial and government tenants. One of those tenants was the Sterling Bank of Canada, who occupied the building until 1928 when the branch closed after merging with the Canadian Bank of Commerce.

The heritage value of the property also lies in the building’s architecture. Built in the Modern Classical Revival style, the building exudes a sense of security and stability that many chartered banks strived for as they established themselves across the prairies in the early-twentieth century. The symmetry of the façade, adorned portico, red brick exterior, pilasters and decorative brick work highlighted with Tyndall Stone all portray a simply designed, yet prominent building.

Source:

Town of Wadena Bylaw No. 11/98.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of Wadena Glass and Mye Signs resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those features associated with the establishment of the Sterling Bank of Canada in Wadena such as the building’s placement on its original location;
-those architectural elements associated with the Modern Classical Revival style, including the symmetry of the façade; the placement of the lower and upper windows and the main entrance; the four vertically-aligned pilasters with recessed bays for window and door openings, the horizontal roof; the dentiled cornice on the front of the building; window sill with brackets; the red brick exterior that is highlighted with Tyndall Stone around the window and door openings; the diamond-shaped patterns inset on the parapet wall and the portico that is adorned with a segmented transom light.