Canadian Pacific Railway Station
Heritage Railway Station of Canada
Emerson, Manitoba
Exterior photo
(© Murray Peterson, 1991.)
Address :
6th Street (at Morris St.), Emerson, Manitoba
Recognition Statute:
Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 52 (4th Supp.))
Designation Date:
1992-06-04
Dates:
-
1914 to 1914
(Construction)
Research Report Number:
RS-112
Description of Historic Place
The Canadian Pacific Railway Station at Emerson is a one-storey, wood-frame railway station built in 1914. It is prominently located at the end of a main thoroughfare in the border town of Emerson. The formal recognition is confined to the railway station building itself.
Heritage Value
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Station at Emerson illustrates Emerson’s important historical position as a border town and as a rail centre for goods moving between Canada and the United States. It reflects the importance of the north-south transportation route in the development of both Emerson and the Canadian northwest before and after the completion of the CPR system. The construction of the present station reflected the increased customs role Emerson and its station had taken on within the CPR system.
The Emerson railway station is characterized by its simple massing, balanced proportions and detailing, and by the harmonious use of materials.
The Emerson station retains its physical and functional relationship with the railway tracks, and its important visual link with the railway bridge at the west end of Morris Street.
Sources: Heritage Character Statement, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Emerson, Manitoba, October 1992; and Murray Peterson, Railway Station Report 112, Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Emerson, Manitoba.
Character-Defining Elements
Character-defining elements of the Canadian Pacific Railway Station at Emerson include: its simple, horizontal massing, consisting of a central section topped by a broad, hipped roof, and flanked by two, slightly lower, hipped-roof wings its roof profile, consisting of a broad, hipped roof that extends on both track and town sides to form a wide, overhanging, protective canopy supported by large, curving brackets, and flanked on either end by slightly lower hipped roofs with shallower eaves the station agent’s bay, tucked beneath the canopy on the track side its cladding, comprised of cove siding to a height of about one metre, with courses of wood shingle to the roofline its entirely wood construction, including preserved timber foundations and wood framing, cladding, trim and interior finishes surviving original interior finishes in the baggage room, including wood floors.