Arthur Cook Building

Description of the Historic Place

The Arthur Cook Building is a three storey brick warehouse that was built in 1928 for the Saskatoon Cartage and Warehouse Company. The building is situated on a corner lot in Saskatoon's downtown Warehouse District.

This historic place, located at 306 Ontario Avenue, was designated as a Municipal Heritage Property in 2011. Designation is limited to the exterior of the building.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Arthur Cook Building lies in its contribution to Saskatoon's Warehouse District. The building was constructed for Saskatoon Cartage and Warehouse Company and offered fireproof storage for freight valuables. The Company’s proprietor, James McCallum, was a notable citizen of Saskatoon. 

Designed by Saskatoon architect David Webster, and built by A.W. Cassidy Co. Ltd., the building’s design was attractive yet functional allowing freight to be unloaded from rail cars near the freight elevator. The building’s thick exterior walls and interior vaults demonstrate that the security of the property was taken into account during construction.  Some original features of the building included a red brick exterior and double sash windows with brick lintels which allowed for natural light on all floors.

From 1945-1978, MacCosham Storage and Distribution Ltd held ownership of the building and continued using the property for storage and warehousing. The City of Saskatoon acquired the building in 1978 for its Central Purchasing Department and renamed it the “Arthur Cook Building”, after a long time keeper of the City’s Stores, Arthur E. Cook. Beginning in the early 1990s, the City Archives was located in this building and in 2010, the warehouse was rehabilitated and converted into office space. Through the City’s Heritage Awards Program, the building received an award for adaptive reuse in 2012.

Source: City of Saskatoon Bylaw No.8945 / City of Saskatoon Built Heritage Database

Character Defining Elements

Key elements which contribute to the heritage value of this historic resource include:

• Its original location in the city’s Warehouse District and its security features, evident in: its thick exterior walls; firewalls and interior vaults; and
• Its redcliff premier brick facade and stone cap tops, its form, scale and massing.