Canadian Pacific Railway Station
Heritage Railway Station of Canada
Masson-Angers, Quebec
Corner view
© Parks Canada Agency/Agence Parcs Canada
Address :
de la Gare Street, Masson-Angers, Quebec
Recognition Statute:
Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 52 (4th Supp.))
Designation Date:
1990-03-10
Dates:
-
1877 to 1877
(Construction)
Research Report Number:
RS-181
Description of Historic Place
The Canadian Pacific Railway Station at Masson is a one-storey, wooden railway station, built in 1877. It is located at the heart of the small, pulp-and-paper community of Masson-Angers, within the amalgamated city of Gatineau. The formal recognition is confined to the railway station building itself.
Heritage Value
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Station at Masson represents Quebec's first provincial railway: the Québec, Montréal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway Company (QMO&O). The community at Masson was created with the coming of the railway, and the station played an important continuing role in the local pulp and paper industry.
The Masson station is typical of the standard QMO&O stations built along the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence rivers between Québec and Hull. It is characterized by its simple design, wood construction, and domestic scale and detailing.
The Masson station retains its original relationship to its site, including the tracks. Its location at the centre of the community reflects its physical and economic impact on the community.
Sources: Énoncé de la valeur patrimoniale, Gare du Canadien Pacifique, Masson (Buckingham-Jonction) (Québec), Mars 1994; Yves Laframboise et Louise Côté, Rapport sur les gares ferroviaires 181, Gare du Canadien Pacifique, Masson (Buckingham-Jonction), Québec, 1993.
Character-Defining Elements
Character-defining elements of the Gare du Canadien Pacifique at Masson include: its simple, domestic design, with features typical of QMO&O stations, including: its one-storey height; its gable roof supported by wooden brackets; a cross-gable over the telegrapher's bay; horizontal wood cladding; and large sash windows ts steeply pitched, wide-eaved, gable roof, enlivened by a decorative cross-gable over the telegrapher's bay, under which the main roof shelters the bay its elongated, rectangular plan, interrupted only by the projecting telegrapher's bay the semaphore signaling device incorporated in the cross-gable its wood construction and exterior detailing typical of small, wooden railway stations, including : horizontal wood cladding; vertical end-boards; and wooden brackets, here rendered in a slimmer, more delicate version that heightens the vertical impact of the building its fenestration and doors, including : large, six-over-six, sash windows; wooden doors; and simple window and door frames surviving original interior partitions which follow the station's original plan, consisting of a waiting room on each side of a central telegrapher's office, in the original part of the building; an express room and a storage room in the later part of the station surviving original interior finishes and fixtures, including: tongue-and-groove paneling; woodwork around windows and doors; mouldings and baseboards; wood floors; wooden bench; and ticket seller's wickets