Description of Historic Place

The British Yukon Navigation Company (BYN) Ticket Office is located on the Dawson City riverfront at the start of the Dempster Highway. This heavy-timber building is a low, single-storey, hipped roof form oriented to both Front Street and the Yukon River. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The British Yukon Navigation Company Ticket Office is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
The BYN Ticket Office is one of the best examples of a building associated with the development of Dawson City as a provisioning centre for the Klondike gold fields after the gold rush. All other riverfront buildings and facilities have been removed, leaving this structure as the only surviving example of early riverfront construction associated with freighting and warehousing. Its original construction, various functions, and evolution illustrate several phases of Dawson’s development.

Architectural Value
The BYN Ticket Office is valued for its good aesthetic design. Its deep-bracketed eaves are reminiscent of railway station design. Of good functional design, its value also resides in those aspects of its design, structure and fabric that relate to its warehousing and ticket office function.

Environmental Value
The BYN Ticket Office is compatible with the character of its riverfront setting. The building is well known to all those who live, work and frequent Dawson City.

Source:
British Yukon Navigation Company Ticket Office, Dawson, Yukon, Heritage Character Statement, 88-012.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the BYN Ticket Office should be respected.

Its good aesthetic design, functional design, materials and craftsmanship, for example; the low, single storey massing of the hipped roof structure; the deep bracketed eaves; the heavy-timber, braced frame construction; the aspects of its design that relate to its warehousing and ticket office function.

The manner in which the BYN Ticket Office is compatible with the character of its riverfront setting and is a well-known building in Dawson City, as evidenced by: the overall design of the building which is a key element on the Dawson riverfront; its familiarity given its use as a visitor centre for all those who enter Dawson City; its visibility given its prominent location at the start of the Dempster highway.

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.

The BYN Building was constructed as an open warehouse associated with the adjacent dock facilities, by the Alaska Commercial Company in 1900. By 1901 a portion of the building was enclosed. The enclosed area was expanded at the south end and the remaining open warehouse and power plant removed, leaving the building generally in its present form. In addition to warehousing, the building has served as both a riverboat and airline transportation ticket office. The building was acquired by Parks Canada in 1980. As part of stabilization work undertaken by Parks Canada in 1982, the building's foundations were replaced and other repairs carried out. The Environment Canada Parks Service is custodian of the building.

See FHBRO Building Report 88-12.


Reason for Designation

The former British Yukon Navigation Company ticket office was designated Recognized because of its association with the development of Dawson City as a provisioning centre for the Klondike gold fields after the gold rush. All other riverfront buildings and facilities have been removed, leaving this structure as the only surviving example of early riverfront construction associated with freighting and warehousing. Its original construction, various functions, and evolution illustrate several phases of Dawson's development.

The building is a key element on the Dawson riverfront.


Character Defining Elements

The heritage value of the BYN building resides in its overall architectural form and character and those aspects of its design, structure and fabric that relate to its warehousing and ticket office function.

The building is a low, single story, hipped-roof, form oriented to both Front Street and the Yukon River. Its deep, bracketed eaves are reminiscent of railway station design without the detail of execution.

Initially constructed as an open, heavy-timber, braced frame warehouse, the evolution of the building and the sequence of additions are evident in the details and fabric.