Description of Historic Place

The Fairbanks-Morse Building is a Municipal Heritage Property comprising two full and three partial lots in the commercial area of downtown Saskatoon. The property features a four-storey brick and concrete warehouse constructed in 1911. The designation pertains to the exterior of the building.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Fairbanks-Morse Building resides in its Classical Revival architecture. Built of reinforced concrete in an era predominated by wood-frame warehouses, the building exudes the optimism of Saskatoon’s pre-World War I commercial growth. A sense of permanence and stability is depicted in the use of the Classical Revival style by its designers, the prominent Montreal architectural firm of Brown and Vallance. Its façade features brick piers at storefront level, pilasters crowned with modern capitals, geometric spandrels and a stepped pediment. Its storefront, complete with leaded transom lighting, is accented by a belt course. Indiana limestone and Standstead granite, employed in other Saskatoon buildings designed by these architects, are used in the warehouse’s embellishment.

Heritage value also lies in the Fairbanks-Morse Building’s close association with the development of Saskatoon. In 1911, the Fairbanks-Morse Company Ltd, Canada’s largest machinery and mill supply house, constructed the building to warehouse its distribution centre for central Saskatchewan which contributed to Saskatoon’s rapid growth. A spur line connecting the warehouse to the nearby rail yard facilitated the delivery of heavy equipment. Like other large commercial buildings in Saskatoon’s warehouse district, the warehouse was subdivided and occupied by various smaller businesses during the 1930s and 1940s. In 1948, the Fairbanks-Morse Building became home to the local Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.) headquarters and also housed a Union hall.

Source:

City of Saskatoon Bylaw No. 6672.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Fairbanks-Morse Building resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that articulate the Classical Revival architecture of the building, such as its piers, pilasters, stepped pediment and the metal spandrels incorporating decorative motifs;
-those elements that reflect its commercial history, such as the building’s location near the rail yards, the storefront windows at ground level and the Warehouse lettering above its storefront.