Description of Historic Place

The Weyburn Court House is Provincial Heritage Property consisting of a large, two-storey, red-brick building situated on ten city lots in Weyburn. The designation applies to the court house, completed in 1928, prominently located at the north end of Third Street, Weyburn's main thoroughfare.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Weyburn Court House lies in its architecture. The building is one of a series of court houses designed by the office of the provincial architect, a government department responsible for the design and/or supervision of all public buildings from 1905 until the office was discontinued in the early 1930's amidst the depression. Architect and engineer Maurice Sharon held the position between 1916 and 1930 and is credited with the design of ten Provincial court houses. Several towns and cities were identified as judicial centres with those at Yorkton, Kerrobert, Prince Albert, Weyburn and Estevan receiving buildings of substantial size, while those at Gravelbourg, Shaunavon, Wynyard, Melfort and Assiniboia received more modest buildings that share an identical prototypical design. While Sharon’s first courthouse at Yorkton exhibited an elaborate Beaux-Arts style, similar to other government buildings constructed to that time, he embraced a Colonial Revival style for the remaining nine buildings. These buildings featured pitched roofs, rain gutters integrated with projecting metal cornices, central cupolas with attic ventilation, and brick cladding trimmed with stone. The incorporation of these design elements enabled the government to reduce construction costs and solve technical problems of roof drainage while retaining the appropriate sense of grandeur and presence symbolic of a judicial building. The construction of the Weyburn court house was contemporary with the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, USA, during the 1920s. Of all the Colonial Revival buildings in Saskatchewan, the connection with Williamsburg is most strongly illustrated in the Weyburn Court House through the use of red brick with small amounts of stone trim and a simple but monumental entry flanked by Doric Columns. Also, it is the only one of Sharon's nine Colonial Revival court house designs to feature end-gables rather than a hip roof. The building is prominently situated on Prairie Avenue at the north end of the vista of Third Street, constituting a major landmark in the community.

Sources:

Province of Saskatchewan, Notice of Intention to Designate as Provincial Heritage Property under The Heritage Property Act, September 24, 1987.

Province of Saskatchewan, Order to Designate as Provincial Heritage Property under The Heritage Property Act, February 15, 1988.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Weyburn Court House resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those architectural elements that reflect the Colonial Revival style of architecture, such as the building's symmetrical design, sloped roof, metal cornice with integral rain gutters, central cupola, dormer windows, wooden-columned main entrance, and roman arches above the windows on the main level;
-those architectural elements, specific to Saskatchewan court houses designed by Maurice Sharon that speak to the Weyburn Court House's unique design, such as the gabled ends of the sloped roof and the use of red brick and Tyndall Stone cladding;
-those elements that illustrate the building's status as a landmark in the community, such as its location on Prairie Avenue facing Third Street.