Description of Historic Place

The Portage la Prairie Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Station, built in 1893, is a 1 1/2-storey brick structure with a prominent roof and oversized base of sandstone veneer. The site's municipal designation applies to the building and the grounds it occupies on the northern edge of Portage la Prairie.

Heritage Value

The Portage la Prairie CPR Station is a striking example of railway architecture in Manitoba, one noted for its imposing roofline, subdued Romanesque Revival styling and rare use of sandstone as a construction material. Unlike many other stations in the province, which are standardized wood-clad buildings, the Portage facility displays a specialized design by Edward Colonna of Montreal, one of several accomplished architects engaged by the CPR in the period before the company began relying almost exclusively on in-house designers. The station's Romanesque Revival characteristics, including a heavy rusticated base, massive round arches and textured, polychromatic surfaces executed in sandstone and brick, are intended to convey a corporate image of solidity and dignity and to signal Portage's regional importance as a railway and agricultural centre.

Source: City of Portage la Prairie By-law No. 04-8220, April 12, 2004

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the site character of the Portage la Prairie CPR Station include:
- the expansive station grounds on 3rd Street NE
- the building's east-west orientation, immediately parallel to railway tracks to the north

Key elements of the station's Romanesque Revival styling include:
- the basic rectangular 1 1/2-storey mass enveloped by walls of clay brick wythes atop a high rusticated sandstone base
- the commanding low-pitched hip roof featuring wood shingles and slightly bellcast, deep overhanging eaves supported by large wooden brackets spanning from the eaves down to the top of the sandstone base
- the roof interrupted on the north and south slopes by single large gable dormers, each featuring brick ends with a bank of three windows separated by rounded brick elements and encased in continuous stone lintels and sills
- the rectangular openings throughout, save the windowless west end, with most windows featuring heavy rusticated stone lintels and sills, and the south-facing doors with an added keystone
- the prominent north and south main entrances inset in large rusticated stone arches with radiating heads
- the rectangular telegrapher's bay facing the tracks on the north elevation
- the details, including the sandstone coping on the raised gable ends, and inside, the utilitarian details and finishes, including wood plank floors throughout, wooden wainscotting and moulding, plaster walls, two fireplaces, etc.