Description of Historic Place

The A.E. Gardiner Building, completed in ca. 1915, is a small commercial structure on Main Street in Carberry. The municipal designation applies to the one-storey building, which now houses a museum, and its small lot.

Heritage Value

The compact A.E. Gardiner Building is a fine example of concrete block construction, a method popular in Manitoba up to World War I. The sturdy false-fronted structure, built by Frank Thompson of Austin, is an appropriate and creative use of the technology. Its durable blocks, formed on site using one of a variety of available moulds, feature a floral pattern still crisply defined today. One of the building's early occupants, A.E. Gardiner, operated a harness repair shop from the site for 48 years.

Source: Town of Carberry By-law No. 4-97, April 24, 1997

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the A.E. Gardiner Building site include:
- the structure's placement on the east side of Main Street in Carberry, flush with the sidewalk, alongside commercial and civic buildings

Key elements that define the building's modest exterior character include:
- its short, compact one-storey rectangular massing with a moderately pitched, forward-facing gable roof and flat-topped boomtown front
- the walls of moulded concrete blocks with their textured look enhanced by quoins created by angled placement of the corner blocks
- the boomtown front and rear gable end finished in metal siding that imitates the look of the concrete blocks
- the simple composition of the front facade with a single door on one side and wide display-style opening on the other
- the additional fenestration composed of tall rectangular sash windows set between thick concrete sills and lintels on the rear and north elevations
- details such as the plain metal cornice painted in a contrasting shade, the wood panel door at the rear, the square brick chimney and embossed metal roofing

Key interior elements that define the building's heritage character include:
- the open plan of the main commercial space, with a smaller storage area to the rear