Description of Historic Place

The Hudson’s Bay Warehouse stands at the entrance of the Lachine Canal on the Père Marquette Pier. It is a one-storey masonry building with regularly placed windows and a main entrance situated beside the canal. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Hudson’s Bay Warehouse is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical value
The Hudson’s Bay Warehouse is a fully reconstructed warehouse that illustrates the fur trade, a significant theme in Canadian history. The building demonstrates the predominant role played by Lachine in the vast commercial trade network where such trade was lucrative owing to the favourable location of Lachine, being upstream of the rapids that block the St. Lawrence at Montreal. It was at Lachine that flotillas of westbound canoes were assembled, and where traded goods and furs were stored. This proved to be a very important economic factor for Lachine. Moreover, nearly every pelt that was shipped to Great Britain passed through this part of the junction in the system.

Architectural value
The architectural value of the Hudson’s Bay Warehouse lies in its fully restored form, which represents a mid 19th-century building in a traditional house form. Detailing includes dormer windows, rough masonry and a wood shingle roof. A building of utilitarian function, good craftsmanship and materials are noted in the masonry exterior.

Environmental value
The Hudson’s Bay Warehouse reinforces its mixed-use surroundings along the Lachine Canal, in the city of Lachine. Standing alone on Père Marquette Pier, the warehouse is a well-known landmark. Its presence has a considerable impact on Lachine owing to its role as a museum, which has made it a meeting place for people with local, regional and national historical interests.

Sources: Gilles Proulx, in collaboration with Paul Trépanier, L’entrepôt de la Compagnie de la Baie d’Hudson. Federal Heritage Buildings Report 92-026; The Hudson’s Bay Company Warehouse 1, Lachine, QC. Heritage Character Statement 92-026.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Hudson’s Bay Warehouse should be respected.

Its good aesthetic design and good quality materials and competent craftsmanship for example: its simple massing and rectangular plan; its low, hipped roof and dormer windows; its rough masonry construction of fieldstone.

The manner in which the building reinforces the utilitarian character of this industrial setting and is a local landmark, for example: its materials and scale, which are indicative of the mid-19th century fur trade period; its prime location on the Père Marquette Pier, along the Lachine Canal, which makes it well known; its significant visibility and use as a museum makes it well known.

Heritage Character Statement

Disclaimer - The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.

Reasons for Designation

The Hudson’s Bay Company Warehouse was designated a “Recognized” Federal Heritage Building primarily because of its important historical associations and its environmental significance.

Historical value
This fully reconstructed warehouse makes it possible to illustrate one of the most significant themes in Canadian history: the fur trade. It also makes it possible to spotlight the predominant role played by Lachine in the vast commercial trade network.

From the earliest days of New France, the fur trade was the driving force for the colonial economy. The age of the coureurs des bois accounts for the favourable location of Lachine upstream of the rapids that block the St. Lawrence at Montreal. Lachine is where flotillas of westbound canoes would assemble and where trade goods and furs would be stored. After Canada passed into British hands, the fur trade remained the main economic activity in the country. From then on, almost every pelt was shipped to Great Britain, which gave Montreal, more specifically Lachine, a prime spot in the network, as almost two thirds of all skins bound for England passed through its port. The Hudson’s Bay Company Warehouse is the central interpretative element at the Fur Trade at Lachine National Historic Site of Canada.

Architectural value
The architectural value of this stone warehouse lies in its recollection of this important period of our history, namely the fur trade. The architectural form of this fully restored building is representative of a mid 19th-century building: traditional house form with dormer windows, rough masonry (the only heritage materials that still exist) and a wood shingle roof.

Environmental value
The environmental value of the Hudson’s Bay Warehouse is linked to the fact that the warehouse is the foundation of the site on which it stands. It is the only warehouse left that recalls the trade theme associated with the site. Standing alone on Père Marquette Pier, the warehouse has a prime spot and easily gets noticed. Its presence has a considerable impact on the cultural landscape of Lachine, while its role as a museum has made it a meeting place for local, regional and national history buffs.

Character-Defining Elements

- The evocative power of this fully restored building that illustrates an important theme in history, the fur trade – the period chosen for the restoration was the period when the building was being used as a warehouse by the Hudson’s Bay Company (1833 1861): rectangular plan, solid masonry walls, low hipped roof reminiscent of the English Classicism of 19th-century utilitarian buildings; the dormers, however, are from a later period.
- The old fieldstone masonry walls and all other historical relics associated with the period of occupation related to the fur trade (before 1861).
- The relationship between the warehouse and its site alongside the St. Lawrence River, as that relationship is essential in understanding the historical theme being evoked.
- The significant visibility of the warehouse.