Description of Historic Place

The Kerrobert Library at Kerrobert is a Municipal Heritage Property occupying two lots on Bosworth Street in the Town of Kerrobert. The property features a two-storey, wood-frame building assembled in 1910.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Kerrobert Library resides in its architecture. The Kerrobert Library is one of the prefabricated buildings the Bank of Commerce assembled in smaller communities prior to 1911. These prefabricated buildings were designed to be manufactured, transported and assembled quickly and inexpensively while at the same time projecting images of stability and permanence, important to bank marketing strategy in prairie villages during the settlement period. Constructed in 1910, this building exhibits the subdued Georgian Classical style typical of smaller Bank of Commerce branches of the period.

The heritage value of the Kerrobert Library also lies in its historic use as a bank. The building housed a branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce until the 1930s. Banks were vital institutions on the prairies during the settlement period. Farmers and businessmen required credit to operate their respective enterprises. Banks were among the earliest commercial institutions established in burgeoning villages during the settlement period. The Kerrobert branch of the Bank of Commerce was one of the first businesses established in Kerrobert.

Source:

Town of Kerrobert Bylaw No. 675.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Kerrobert Library resides in the following character defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the Georgian Classical architecture, which include the building’s symmetrical form, the pilasters with capitals, columns flanking the entranceway and main floor windows, hip roof and rounded dormers, the corbelled entablature, frames of the main floor windows;
-those elements that reflects use as a bank, such as the safe.