Description of Historic Place

The Commercial Hotel, built in 1901, is a Municipal Heritage Property in the Town of Wapella. The property features a three-storey, buff-coloured brick structure that exhibits subtle Romanesque Revival-style features. The building occupies a prominent corner location on the town’s main street.

Heritage Value

The Commercial Hotel is of heritage value as one of Wapella’s oldest commercial structures. The building was constructed in 1901 as the Mundell Hotel, but by 1905, was renamed the Commercial Hotel. The substantial size and materials of the building reflect the prosperity of the community in the first decade of the twentieth century. The use of the then-popular Romanesque Revival style, defined by the long, narrow windows, a corbelled brick cornice and rooftop pinnacles, made the Commericial Hotel the town's establishment of choice during the period.

Source:

Town of Wapella Bylaw No. 05-2008.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Commercial Hotel resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements of the building that reflect its period of construction, including its brick construction faced with buff-coloured brick, brickwork forming a corbelled, stylized cornice and extended piers to form rooftop pinnacles, its substantial two-and three-storey form with one-storey extensions, flat roof, and fenestration with long, narrow, segmental and semi-circular arched windows.