Amos Blacksmith Shop

The Amos Blacksmith Shop, completed in 1927, is a small concrete building on a mid-block site in Waskada's business district. The municipal designation applies to the one-storey building and its grounds.

The Amos Blacksmith Shop in Waskada is a rare link to the era of the village blacksmith shop and the role played by many such unassuming structures in agricultural communities. James Renwick Amos, who came to nearby Deloraine from New Brunswick in 1895, erected his first blacksmith shop on this site in 1899 and, after losing two buildings to fire, constructed this utilitarian structure of poured, formed concrete. The building,also features an internal frame of thick wooden beams and posts that support both the roof and the line shaft used to drive several vital pieces of equipment. Now a museum, this shop was operated by members of the Amos family until 1960 when changing agricultural technology rendered its services unnecessary.

Source: Village of Waskada By-law No. 4-98, February 16, 1999

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Amos Blacksmith Shop site include:

- its mid-block location on a side street in Waskada's business district, with the building oriented east-west amidst other commercial structures

Key elements that define the building's unadorned exterior character and notable construction type include:

- the long narrow one-storey rectangular massing with minimal fenestration

- the construction of undecorated poured concrete with the marks of the board forms visible

- the large street-level doorways at each end, of vertical boards with metal hardware, including a double front door, one side hung on wide metal hinges, the other side suspended, and a rear double suspended door

- the single wood-panelled pedestrian door with metal hardware

Key elements that define the building's interior character and blacksmith function include:

- the open plan, high-ceilinged with exposed beams, posts and concrete floor and walls

- the minimal details and finishes, including the diagonal door bracing, the specialized shelving relating to the blacksmith's trade, etc.