Canada Celebrates Building 100 Years

Canada Celebrates Building 100 Years

Boom times aren't a new phenomenon for Saskatoon. Over 100 years ago, in 1911, the Board of Trade issued a pamphlet declaring Saskatoon "The Wonder City". The pamphlet extolled the wonders of settling and investing in Saskatoon - then the fastest growing city in Canada. Sound familiar? At the time, Saskatoon was in the midst of a dynamic real estate boom that saw the community's population expand by 467 per cent between the years of 1906 and 1916. Saskatoon's population was estimated at 28,000 in 1912 and was predicted to reach 100,000 by 1920.

The boom was sparked by a rush to own land in the prairies, with homesteaders from across Canada, Europe and the United States flocking to the region.Land values in the city were skyrocketing, fuelled by the arrival of aggressive speculators. According to "A History of Saskatoon to 1914," compiled by City of Saskatoon archivist Jeff O'Brien, a 35-foot lot on Second Avenue North that cost $300 in 1903 sold for close to $70,000 in 1912.

Land was being bought and sold at a frantic pace, with some titles being flipped for profit in mere hours or days after purchase.An incredible 267 real estate firms were conducting business in Saskatoon in 1912 - close to one real estate agent for every 100 residents. Building permits for that year totaled 1,783; 1,232 of those permits were for residential housing. As a comparison, housing starts in Saskatoon from 2002 to 2010 averaged out to 1,732 starts a year.

Not only were houses being built at a record pace, also under construction were the University of Saskatchewan, a half-million dollar transit system, a power station, hospitals and a downtown railway station.

Adding to the city's importance, Saskatoon was emerging as the hub for three intercontinental railways in western Canada: the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and the Canadian National Railway Company.One of the visionaries responsible for Saskatoon's turn-of-the-century boom was Allan Bowerman. Employed as a school principal in Winnipeg from 1872 to 1899, Bowerman arrived in Saskatoon in 1899. According to a newsletter published by the Saskatoon Heritage Society, "Bowerman came to Saskatoon to engage in the gentlemanly occupation of real estate."

He served as Saskatoon's postmaster from 1900 to 1906, and was active on the Town Council from 1903 to 1905.Bowerman was committed to making Saskatoon's 'boomtown' dreams come true. His vision of building the city's "first skyscraper" led to the construction of the Canada Building, on land he had acquired for $65 across the street from the downtown CNR Station and the Post Office.

Bowerman hired the architectural firm of James Chisholm & Son, a Winnipeg company that had designed a number of prominent buildings in Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton and Moose Jaw. Carling-Halls Aldinger of Winnipeg was named general contractor.Originally the Canada Building was designed to be fourstoreys high. An enthusiastic Bowerman decided to expand the development, first to six storeys and then to eight. "The economy drove Bowerman to build the Canada Building to this size. It was only going to be four floors, but it just kept getting bigger and bigger," says property manager Gilbert Dobroskay, President/Broker of Re/Max Guardian Commercial.

At eight storeys in height, upon completion the Canada Building earned bragging rights as the tallest office building located west of Winnipeg.An article in the December 16, 1912 StarPhoenix provided a sneak peek inside the stately building which featured a fa?ade of red granite, terra cotta and grey Norman brick. "The entire upper storey is recessed to form a colonnade effect... ornamented with the beaver motif, typical of our country, after which the building has been named. Over the front entrance has been placed an ornamental iron and glass marquise, which extends out to the street curb... fastened over two ornamental buffalo heads, life size."

The buffalo heads remain as stately icons, presiding over the 21st Street entrance to the building. The sculptures are thought to have been carved by an artist from Chicago. It was rumoured that the artist first travelled to Winnipeg to view two stuffed bison at the Museum of History, as he had never seen the animals before.For the past century, the building's roof line has been adorned by two beavers, who look out onto the corner of First Avenue North and 21st Street East.

The StarPhoenix article goes on to describe the variety of marble used in the building, still in evidence today: Bottichino, Tavarnell, Pavanazzo and Skyros. "This entrance, which will also have marble stairways and marble tile floor, ornamental plastered ceiling, solid bronze elevator enclosures, etc., will without doubt be the most handsome entrance in any similar building in Western Canada."Solid Honduras mahogany graces the entrance halls and corridors of the building. Offices and stores in the building were finished in quarter cut American white oak, typical of the era's Craftsman style.

Dobroskay says that a past retrofit provided insight into the building's original splendor. "We were expanding office space on the third floor for Dr. Hildebrant. A wall in one area was removed, only to reveal a perfectly intact original wall that had been boarded over with drywall. There was the wall, with the original mahogany door, complete with the frosted glass bearing the name of the business. It even had the original doorknob with the skeleton key!" Upon opening in April, 1913, the Canada Building earned praise for its quality of construction. "The building was considered very high tech for its time. Although it didn't have a sprinkler system, it was almost fireproof. All of the floors and ducts had fireproof enclosures, so fire couldn't spread between the floors," says Dobroskay.

The 1912 StarPhoenix article revealed, "The fact that the building is as near fireproof in all respects as it can be made, has obtained for the owner a fire insurance rate which will be about one-third of that at present paid on any similar building in Saskatchewan."The importance of fireproofing became evident when the building's rival of the time - Drinkle Building No. 1 - was ravaged by fire in 1925. That structure was later replaced by the McMillan Building, also owned by the same owners as the Canada Building.

"The Canada Building was built to last," says Dobroskay. "The foundations are sitting on a bedrock of fieldstone. Structural engineers have taken recent measurements and say the building has not settled more than a quarter of an inch since it was built."

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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