Dominion Exhibition Display Building Nº 2 National Historic Site of Canada

Dominion Exhibition Display Building Nº 2 is a stately wooden exhibition building located in the midst of the City of Brandon’s exhibition grounds. The structure’s scale, materials and classical elements proclaim its early 20th-century origins.

Dominion Exhibition Display Building Nº 2 was designated a national historic site of Canada because:

- it is the only known surviving building constructed for the Dominion Exhibition held annually from 1879-1914;

- it is located in a city which was, and continues to be, a focal point and important centre in the agricultural development of the west;

- it is a good example of the exhibition halls inspired by the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893; and

- it has clear roots in the tradition and style of exhibition halls, and expresses very well the exuberance and monumentality of its Beaux-Arts models.

Designed by architects Shillinglaw and Marshall, this grand Beaux-Arts-style building was constructed in 1913 for agricultural display at the annual Dominion Exhibition, an initiative of the Department of Agriculture.

Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, December 1998.

Key elements of this site include its:

- rectangular, single-storey massing,

- original open interior plan with tall central nave,

- designed provision of natural light through clerestory and large windows in side elevations,

- exposed interior wooden trusses,

- exterior wood sheathing,

- classical articulation including columned porticoes, pediments, stepped parapets, domed corner pavilions, pilasters,

- location on exhibition grounds.