Hudson's Bay Building

Description of the Historic Place

The Hudson’s Bay Building  is a five storey building located at 203 2nd Avenue North in downtown Saskatoon. Built in 1960, the building (often now referred to as the 2nd Avenue Lofts) is located on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 23rd Street East across from the historic King George Building.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Hudson’s Bay Building resides in its association with one of Canada’s oldest retail chains, and former fur trading business, the Hudson's Bay Company; its representation of retail buildings constructed in the Post WWII era, and; its status as a landmark building in Saskatoon’s Central Business District.

In 1922, the J.F. Cairns Department Store (originally constructed in 1915) at 203 2nd Avenue North was purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) for the 11th store in HBC's retail chain. Unlike the other downtown stores where HBC acquired property and built new, the Saskatoon store came ready-made and was already the "premier department store in Saskatchewan". In 1958, Hudson's Bay Company announced that a new store was to be built on the existing site. In March of that same year, the Nicholson Building was torn down to allow space for parking on its north side. 

The new Hudson's Bay store was three stories high, with 157,000 square feet of retail space, and was built at a cost of $3,000,000.  The building featured a reinforced concrete exterior with a wall of mosaic tile at its southeast corner. At the time, the new HBC store was the biggest retail project in Saskatoon’s history. In 1966, construction began on a 4th floor addition, a parkade across the street (2nd Avenue and 24th Street), and a skywalk between them. The completed building offered approximately 200,000 square feet of retail space. 

In 2000 HBC moved to Midtown Plaza shopping mall, and the Hudson’s Bay Building was subsequently sold and a fifth storey was added. The building was converted into loft-style condominiums on the upper three floors. The skywalk and parkade were demolished in 2004. The main floor was refurbished and continues to be used today for commercial purposes.

The large size of the Hudson Bay Building makes it a landmark in Saskatoon’s downtown, and is an excellent example of adaptive reuse.

Source: City of Saskatoon Built Heritage Database

Character Defining Elements

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

• Those features that relate to its representation of retail construction in the Post-WWII era,  its ties to the Hudson’s Bay Company, and its landmark status, including its large scale appearance, original location along 2nd Avenue North and 23rd Street East, its concrete façade and mosaic tile.