Johnston Terminal Building

• the building's prominent, angled position on a slight rise of land
• the building's physical relationship to other preserved structures, including the Canadian Northern Railway Freight Lift Bridge, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and Canadian Northern Cartage Co. stables, the Northern Pacific and Manitoba Railway Repair Shop, etc.

Key exterior elements that define the warehouse's utilitarian industrial character include:

• the massive scale and four-storey height, organized in an exceptionally long rectangular block of mill construction with buff-brick exterior walls on a full concrete basement
• the flat roof, narrow concrete cornice and tall brick parapet that rises slightly at each corner and is topped by concrete coping
• the symmetrical massing, simple design and minimal detailing consistently presented on each side
• the large rectangular windows with simple concrete sills and flat heads on all sides
• the rhythmic organization of openings into vertical bays divided by plain brick pilasters and capped above the fourth-floor windows by corbelled brickwork
• the utilitarian elements, including the multiple north loading docks well above ground level and the angling of the northeast corner to accommodate the turning radius and height of train cars

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

• the organization of the basement, ground and second levels around a central steel staircase with a central hallway defined by load-bearing masonry walls
• the two steel fire staircases located in the northwest and southeast quadrants
• the two interior elevator shafts adjacent to the steel fire staircases
• the high ceilings and open spaces with exposed heavy timber columns, beams and joists
• the remaining original finishes and furnishings, including the wood floors