Description of Historic Place

The Machine Shop, also known as Building 1 and Building 2, located at the Bear Creek complex, faces a large, open yard in a historic, non-operating, placer gold mining facility in the Klondike River valley. The elongated, rectangular, wood-frame building is made up of two very large, one-storey sections. The walls are clad with corrugated metal siding and its sweeping gable roof is covered with metal and topped with a boxed ventilator. The front gable possesses double doors and a distinctive projecting housing for crane tracks. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Machine Shop is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
The Machine Shop, as a key structure for the mining operations of the Bear Creek service facility, and the largest building on the site, is one of the best illustrations of a building associated with the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation’s corporate phase of gold mining in the Yukon’s history. The building also demonstrates the dependency of mining operations on service and repair activities.

Architectural Value
The Machine Shop is valued for its good, simple aesthetic design. The functional nature of its design is evidenced in the interior arrangement of two functional areas, including the “dirty” area in front, for blacksmithing, welding, and casting, and the “clean” area, or babbit shop in the rear section, for white metal casting and lathe work. The wood-frame construction exhibits good workmanship and the appropriate use of materials such as metal cladding, interior tongue-and-groove boarding, and metal covered roof.

Environmental Value
The Machine Shop maintains an unchanged relationship to the site and reinforces the character of its industrial setting at the Bear Creek Compound. The structure is a conspicuous and memorable landmark within the Bear Creek Compound.

Sources: Joan Mattie, Bear Creek Industrial Complex, Bear Creek, Yukon Federal Heritage Building Review Office Building Report 89-008; Machine Shop (Building #1 and #2), Bear Creek Compound, Yukon, Heritage Character Statement, 89-008.

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements of the Machine Shop should be respected: its impressive scale and massing; the simple and functional nature of its design, and its overall good workmanship and appropriate use of materials; the features of its form, construction, and materials that unify it with the site’s other buildings, including its simple rectangular shape, its gable roof, its corrugated metal siding and roof covering, its wood-frame structure, and its rooftop ventilator; the large double doors at both gable ends of the building, and the pattern of windows and subsidiary doors; the distinctive overhead crane housing projecting from its front gable, and the crane tracks, which extend through the entire building and out the rear; the functional configuration of its two principal work areas; the tongue-and-groove boarding that lines its interior; the interior fittings that illustrate its function, such as the equipment and equipment mountings, and the workstations and their fittings; its compatibility – due to its form, materials, detailing, and colour scheme – with the other structures and landscape features of the site, in particular the trade buildings on the south side of the yard, such as the nearby Tin Shop (Building 4) and Auto Repair Shop (Building 7).

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 Machine Shop (Buildings #1 and #2), constructed in 1924, was the third machine shop at the Bear Creek industrial complex, a service facility for the mining operations of the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation (YCGC). The first machine shop was erected in 1910, and was replaced eight years later by a more up-to-date facility that was destroyed by fire, necessitating the construction of the present-day Machine Shop. In 1939, a small addition was built on the east side to house an air compressor. The Machine Shop was a key component within the complex, as it provided repair and maintenance services for mining machinery. Operations at the Bear Creek complex ceased in 1966, and the property was acquired by Parks Canada, the present custodian, in 1975.

Reasons for designation

The Machine Shop (Buildings #1 and #2) is a 'Recognized' Federal Heritage Building because of its historical, architectural, and environmental values:

As a key structure for the mining operations of the Bear Creek service facility and the largest building on the site, the Machine Shop is one of the best illustrations of the facility's association with the corporate phase of Yukon's gold mining history. It also demonstrates the dependency of mining operations on service and repair activities.

The Machine Shop is simple and functional in design, and exhibits good workmanship and appropriate use of materials. Made up of two very large sections, it is 68 metres long and 14 metres wide. Its one-storey elongated rectangular form is clad with corrugated metal siding, and its sweeping gable roof is covered with metal and topped with a boxed ventilator. Its front gable possesses double doors and a distinctive projecting housing for the crane tracks, which run through the entire shop and out double doors at the rear. The Machine Shop possesses a wood-frame structure. Its interior, which is clad with tongue-and-groove boarding, is made up of two functional areas: the 'dirty' area in front (Building #1), for blacksmithing, welding, and casting; and the 'clean' area, or babbitt shop, in the rear section (Building #2), for white metal casting and lathe work. An addition was constructed on the east side to house the air compressor. The interior contains evidence of machinery placement and work patterns.

The Machine Shop, the most dominant buildings on the site due to its sheer scale, reinforces the industrial character of this functionally obsolete but remarkably intact village-like mining service facility, with its 80 structures and several landscape features relating to large-scale mechanical placer mining. Like the site's other main buildings, it faces the large open yard, and it is a key component within the grouping of industrial buildings on the south side. This large structure, with its unusual front elevation, is a conspicuous and memorable landmark.

Character-defining elements

The following character-defining elements of the Machine Shop should be respected:
· Its impressive scale and massing.
· The simple and functional nature of its design, and its overall good workmanship and appropriate use of
materials.
· The features of its form, construction, and materials that unify it with the site's other buildings, including its
simple rectangular shape, its gable roof, its corrugated metal siding and roof covering, its wood-frame
structure, and its rooftop ventilator.
· The large double doors at both gable ends of the building, and the pattern of windows and subsidiary doors.
· The distinctive overhead crane housing projecting from its front gable, and the crane tracks, which extend
through the entire building and out the rear.
· The functional configuration of its two principal work areas.
· The tongue-and-groove boarding that lines its interior.
· The interior fittings that illustrate its function, such as the equipment and equipment mountings, and the
workstations and their fittings.
· Its comfortable relationship ' due to its form, materials, detailing, and colour scheme ' with the other
structures and landscape features of the site, in particular the trade buildings on the south side of the yard,
such as the nearby Tin Shop (Building #4) and Auto Repair Shop (Building #7).