Next time you walk by Red Deer’s Government of Canada building, give it a second glance.
With its “Classical Moderne” exterior, the downtown structure is deemed special enough to warrant provincial heritage protection.
The red-brick rectangle known as Red Deer’s old post office, at 4909 50 St., recently received Provincial Historic Resource designation from Alberta’s Minister of Culture and Tourism. This means the building that still houses federal government offices can’t be torn down, so it will survive as a reminder of the city’s past, said Red Deer city councillor and historian Michael Dawe.
Occupying a prime corner, on Gaetz Avenue and Ross Street, across from Red Deer’s cenotaph, the stately two-storey building “is an excellent example of the type and style of building that was constructed across the country by the federal Department of Public Works in the 1940s and ’50s,” states the provincial “statement of significance.”
“Designed in simplified Classical Moderne style, these buildings … did away with the towers, arches and ornamentation that characterized government buildings in previous decades, instead they focused on function and simplicity.”
Most federal structures were clad entirely in stone. But Red Deer’s building, like two others (in Rimouski and Saint-Jerome, Que.), was decorated in red brick with stone accents. This marries sleek and modern design with classical tradition, states the provincial evaluation.
The report notes that Red Deer’s old post office building — created for the delivery of Canada’s growing social security system (old age veterans pensions and unemployment insurance) — is tied to this city’s “tremendous” growth in the mid-last-century. That’s when oil was discovered in the region and the local population nearly quadrupled between 1945 and 1955.
The building, which previously received municipal heritage status, “serves as a tangible recognition of Red Deer’s growth and significance.”
Dawe was pleased and surprised to learn the old postal building had received provincial protection, saying this kind of heritage status is not conferred very often these days.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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