Description of Historic Place

The Little Chief Service Station is a Municipal Heritage Property located in the Riversdale district of downtown Saskatoon. It features a motor-vehicle service station located at the corner of 20th Street West and Avenue D. The designation pertains to its exterior and its free-standing sign.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Little Chief Service Station resides in its Spanish Revival architecture. Built in 1928-1929 by Texaco Oil Company of Canada Ltd., it is Saskatoon’s only example of a Spanish Revival style service station. The plan reflects a growing aesthetic awareness in service station design toward an inviting “house” concept compatible with city neighbourhoods. In white stucco offset by decorative brick and rounded roof tiles, the station has a heavy tiled cornice, roof parapet with globe lighting and latticed apertures in a strong, bright articulation of Spanish Revivalism.

Heritage value of the Little Chief Service Station also resides in its association with the commercial development of Saskatoon. It was constructed in response to the growing use of motor vehicles for work and leisure. Farm vehicles and cars were regularly serviced at the station while their owners shopped along 20th Street, the main commercial artery of the Riversdale district. In 1943 the garage became the Little Chief Service Station, serving Saskatoon in this role for several decades before becoming a community police station in 2003.

Source:

City of Saskatoon Bylaw No. 8170.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Little Chief Service Station resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that speak to the Spanish Revival design, such as its tiled roof, stucco finish, segmented windows, parapet, globe lighting and corner columns supporting its globe lighting;
-those elements that address its association with Saskatoon’s commercial history, including its placement on its original lot and its freestanding sign.