Designated HeritageBuilding /
C.P.R. Railway Station - 425 Sixth
Avenue
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Building
Code |
574.A.1 |
Construction
Date |
1906 |
Origins |
C.P.R. Train
Station |
Description
|
The former
Canadian
Pacific Railway (CPR) station at Virden is a rare Manitoba
fieldstone station. It is a substantial picturesque building with
surrounding
eaves and a distinctive roofline located on 6th Ave, consisting of a
two-storey
central block flanked on the east and west by single storey wings, just
east
of Nelson St. |
Heritage
Value
|
The former
Canadian
Pacific Railway station at Virden was designated a heritage
railway station because of its historical, architectural and local
significance.
The second station to occupy this site, it was built by the CPR in 1900
at
a time when the railway was emerging from a period of economic
depression
to begin nearly two decades of tremendous growth and expansion. This
substantial
and attractive stone station proclaimed the CPR’s permanence and
improved
fortunes in a highly competitive railway environment. The Virden
station
is a very attractive example of a standard plan station designed for
the
CPR by architect Ralph Benjamin Pratt in 1899. The simplicity of its
detailing,
in combination with the sturdy rusticity of its masonry materials and
the
long, low slope of the roofline, gives the building a dignity and
solidity
which reflect the turn-of-the-century importance of the CPR. While it
illustrates
an established construction technique and preferred building material
for
the Virden area, the use of roughly-dressed fieldstone makes it rare,
if
not unique, within the context of Manitoba railway stations. The Virden
station
has been altered little since its construction and continues to exhibit
the
features of Pratt’s standard plan which combined all ground level
functions
into a neat, full rectangle. The broad, overhanging eaves encircling
the
building slope up to form part of a distinctive roof shape
characteristic
of the five stations built to this Pratt design. Although the
station’s original
gardens have disappeared, there has been little encroachment on the
property,
and the site is still defined much as it originally was, by the street,
tracks,
and related buildings. In 1987 the building, platform, and lands were
transferred
from the CPR to VIA and in January 1989 the building was closed.
Heritage
value of the Virden station resides in its exterior form, materials of
construction,
the separation and expression of its operational and residential
functions,
and in the high level of historic integrity retained by the building.
The
station also retains several important environmental relationships.
Source:
Heritage Character Statement, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Virden,
Manitoba,
1989. Heritage Assessment Report RSR-012,1989.
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Character
Defining
Elements |
Character-defining
elements of the Former Canadian Pacific Railway Station,
Virden, Manitoba include:
- its rectangular footprint and symmetrical massing as a central 2
storey
cube and flanking 1 storey wings under a complex roofline,- its
substantial
proportions and substantive presence,
- its carefully balanced vertical and horizontal definition,
- the intricacy and prominence of its roofline from all four
perspectives:
its steeply pitched hip, half gables, vents, broken eaves, hipped gable
dormers
and unifying slightly bellcast eave,
- the smooth aesthetic integration of functional railway features such
as
a projecting telegrapher’s bay, identifying brackets and broad
surrounding
eaves to provide passenger shelter,
- its picturesque features: variable wall surfaces, dominant and
distinctive
roofline, massive wooden brackets, continuous deep overhanging eaves,
large
stone lintels, corbels and sills,- its exterior materials, coursed,
roughly-dressed
fieldstone at the ground floor, wood shingles at the second floor, and
wood
shingle roofing,- the use of varied detail materials: wood for windows,
plain
panelled and glazed doors, and brackets, and stone for lintels, sills,
and
corbels
- the craftsmanship evident in its composition, particularly its
masonry,
- the integrity of all early materials, finishes and furnishings inside
the
station,- continued legibility of the hierarchy of materials and
finishes
used in different functional areas of the station as indicated by the
"V"
joint wainscot and plaster for the main rooms and "V" joint boarding
and
plaster for the baggage area,
- the station’s dual function as a railway station and
stationmaster’s residence,
- continued legibility of its original interior functional
configuration
and spatial volumes, in particular the separation between a ground
floor
station and a second storey residence, and the distribution of ground
floor
functions with a central general waiting room and office, and flanking
private
waiting rooms and baggage room,- continued use of longstanding patterns
of
access, egress and circulation. |
Site
History |
|
Additional
Information |
1905 The
Neepawa
Register says – The worst train service imaginable is given
by the CPR over the lines
leading from here to Southern Manitoba. To go to Virden one must go
around
by Portage paying full milage, or go across to Brandon and wa there a
full
day as the train from Minnedosa misses the west-bound by a few
minutes.”
Here at Virden we have two trains that stop going east, both in the
forenoon
and theame going west, both in the evening. The passenger service is to
put
it mildly, wretched. We will welcome the return of winter schedule as
there
may be some improvement, it certainly cannot be worse.
The CPR gardens are a source of much
favourable comment by passengers
on
the trains passing through. They seem to draw the attention of everyone
who
receives a good impression of the town even though they are only
passing
through. Mr. Chivers deserves great credit for the state of perfection
to
which he ahs brought these gardens in such a short space of time. 1905
Among the little things which might improve the appearance and add to
the
comfort and convenience of the public would be a suitable crossing from
the
CPR depot to the sidewalk. Aug. 3, 1905.
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