Description of Historic Place

The Qu’Appelle Apartments are a Municipal Heritage Property located at the corner of Hamilton Street and 13th Avenue in the City of Regina. The property features a 1928 three-storey, Gothic and Tudor Revival style brick building surrounded by landscaped grounds. The designation is restricted to the exterior walls and fenestration of the property.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Qu’Appelle Apartments lies in its historical integrity. Built in 1928, the exterior of the building features an unaltered, Tudor-inspired roofline, brick façade, painted tile roofing materials and pattern of window openings. The façade is highlighted by the Gothic Revival detailing surrounding the entryways and enhanced by the landscaped grounds surrounding the two street sides of the building. The Qu’Appelle Apartments’ largely unaltered physical appearance contributes to the longstanding importance of the Transition Area streetscape.

Another element of the Apartments’ heritage value is their association with the Hipperson family. William Hipperson, a Regina contractor and founder of Hipperson Construction, built the Qu’Appelle Apartments. Hipperson Construction remains one of Regina’s most important construction companies. Other significant Regina properties Hipperson Construction built included the Army and Navy Building and the Ackerman Building. The construction of the Qu’Appelle Apartments coincided with Regina’s 1920’s building boom and helped accommodate the city’s growing population. The Hipperson family has owned and operated the Qu’Appelle Apartments as rental units continuously since their construction.

Source: City of Regina Bylaw 2003-93.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Qu'Appelle Apartments lies in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the historical integrity of the property, including the form and massing of the property, the stone block signs above the entrances and the cast iron exterior light fixtures;
-those elements that reflect the Tudor Revival style, such as the half-timbering on the upper floor wall, stucco cladding, gabled dormer roofs above bay window projections, decorative buttresses at the base of towers, pinnacles, parapets, and a steeply sloping roof painted to resemble Mediterranean tile;
-those elements that reflect the Gothic Revival influence, such as arches over the two principal entrances;
-those elements that relate to the building's association with the Hipperson family, such as the landscaped grounds, fence around the border of the grounds and the location of the building on its original site.