Yellowknife Post Office
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The Post Office building for
Yellowknife Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and the only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of t ...
,
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, serving the X1A
postal codes A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...
, is located at the southwest corner of 49th Street and Franklin (50th) Avenue. It is a two-storey concrete building in a late modernist style dating to the mid-20th century. In 2006 it was designated a City of Yellowknife Heritage Site in recognition of its long standing role as a social centrepiece for the downtown community; it has been administratively listed on the
Canadian Register of Historic Places The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP; , ), also known as Canada's Historic Places, is an online directory of historic places in Canada which have been formally recognized for their heritage value by a federal, provincial, territorial ...
as a result. "This is where you went to find everybody" in the 1960s, one city councillor recalled when the building received its heritage plaque in 2010. It was the first
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
building constructed in what is now referred to as Yellowknife's New Town. The city had begun during the 1930s as a
gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...
community on a peninsula and islands in the bay named for it on
Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada (after Great Bear Lake), List of lakes by depth, the deepest lake in North America at , and the List of lakes by area, tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It ...
. When the boom resumed after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, it quickly outgrew the space available there, and New Town began to develop to the south on higher ground. The post office was completed in 1956 as the centralized, downtown location for mail services for
Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (, trading as Canada Post (), is a Canadian Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operating name of the Post Office Department of the Can ...
; it also housed the territorial courts until 1978. Both functions made it an important civic presence that helped establish New Town. During later decades, the building lost some of its prominence, as federal agencies that had been housed there moved elsewhere in downtown Yellowknife for more space and the city grew too large for all of its residents to receive their mail there through
general delivery (, "waiting mail"), also known as general delivery in North American English, is a service where the post office holds the mail until the recipient calls for it. It is a common destination for mail for people who are visiting a particular locat ...
. It underwent some physical changes as well. A 1958 renovation added a rear
pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
, and a fire ten years later resulted in the reconstruction of the upper floor. In the 1990s it was extensively renovated and underwent significant changes to its exterior although the building's basic form remains. In 2010 it was deemed surplus. Since 2010 it has been privately owned and leased back to Canada Post. In 2014 the city's removal of the benches in response to complaints about the behaviour of local
homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
people led to a
sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...
protest by local residents.


Building

The post office is situated on a corner lot in an urban area of low- and high-rise buildings with some parking lots interspersed amid a
grid pattern In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at Angle#Types of angles, right angles to each other, forming a wikt:grid, grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, fr ...
of numbered streets and avenues. This level and type of development continues for several blocks in all directions. The terrain is generally level, at the top of a rise coming up from the lake, roughly in elevation. On the opposite side of 49th Street, the intersection's northwest corner, is a bank branch, with the seven-storey YK Centre office building just down the street. The northeast corner is occupied by a six-story modernist building that houses some
territorial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, o ...
offices. Across 50th Avenue, signed and referred to as Franklin Avenue, is a fast-food restaurant on the corner and the entrance to the
Centre Square Mall Centre Square Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. The mall is noteworthy for being the largest shopping centre in the territory and the tallest building in Northern Canada. The first phase of the mall w ...
complex, topped with a three-storey hotel and, a block to the east, the Northern Heights tower, Yellowknife's tallest building. Southwest of the building is a tall radio transmission tower. The building itself is a two-storey 10-by-10-
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
timber frame Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...
structure faced in concrete with a flat roof. In the eastern section of the north (rear) elevation a nested
pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
three bays wide rises to an additional storey; an attached square brick chimney rises to its east. On the north and east are broad stone tiled sidewalks with shrubbery and decorative tree plantings enclosed by low stone walls on the latter. A parking lot roughly equal in area to the building is located on its west; to the south is an unnamed alley.
Fenestration Fenestration or fenestrate may refer to: * Fenestration (architecture), relating to openings in a building * Fenestra, in anatomy, medicine, and biology, any small opening in an anatomical structure * Leaf window, or fenestration, a translucent or ...
on the facades facing the streets consists of
casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...
s with a large single pane over a smaller one. On the ground floor, the southernmost bay of the east face is set with a double window. Next to it is a projecting secondary entrance set with modern metal and glass doors sheltered by a flat concrete roof. The last bay on the north end is blind, with the main entrance recessed into the corner and fronted by a low porch with metal railings. A single round metal pillar supports the upper story within the recess. Two projecting plain strips surround the entryway, with a similar
quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...
rising from the top. The bay to the west is blind as well. A projecting
course Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...
of flat strips similar to those in the quoins divides the second storey from the first. Like its counterpart below, the southernmost window on the east is doubled. This treatment is also accorded the third bay, above the secondary entrance, and the northernmost bay. The east facade has the single windows in all ten bays. On the south side, the first story has three single windows, two blind bays, three more windows and a garage with a metal door. The second story has, from the east, three single windows, a double, a blind bay and then a double followed by four singles. The west (rear) facade has no windows and only an opaque service door on the east side of the pavilion; a chainlink fence on the other side encloses the building's mechanicals. Above it are two windows spaced a bay apart, the only windows on the west. The roofline is marked by a
frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
of flat metal plates in strips with small
cornices In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
between. At the northern end of the east facade are an irregular set of empty bolt holes. In the center of the roof along eastern side a flagpole rises. An air handler is located in the northeast corner. The upper story of the pavilion has the same treatments as the rest of the building. On its north facade are two windows, one the same single casement type seen elsewhere on the building, the other a triple.


History

From Yellowknife's beginnings as a
gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...
boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...
in the mid-1930s, a building to house
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
offices, including
Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (, trading as Canada Post (), is a Canadian Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operating name of the Post Office Department of the Can ...
, in the center of town had been planned, but never built. In the years after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, when development resumed, the plans remained. By 1950 the current lot had been reserved for the purpose. Funding was not available until 1955. That year construction started, and by the following April the building was open and serving customers. A formal
ribbon-cutting ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.
was held in July. The post office occupied the first floor, with government offices and courts upstairs. It was the first federal building in Yellowknife's New Town. As in many other communities in the
Canadian North Bradley Air Services, operating as Canadian North, is a wholly Inuit-owned airline headquartered in Kanata, Ontario, Canada. It operates scheduled passenger services to communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Nunavik region ...
, the post office quickly became a center of social and community life. Many residents used
general delivery (, "waiting mail"), also known as general delivery in North American English, is a service where the post office holds the mail until the recipient calls for it. It is a common destination for mail for people who are visiting a particular locat ...
instead of a street address and came there daily to pick up their mail, often lingering on the benches and sidewalks outside when the weather permitted. It was also adjacent to the nearby Sutherland's Drug Store, where residents often shopped, further establishing the area as the centre of town. At the time of construction, the building had a coal chimney but no coal furnace. The unused chimney was later filled in with sand and dirt. In 1958 the building was expanded slightly, with the addition of the rear pavilion. During the 1960s, different government agencies, including the
Canadian Wildlife Service The Canadian Wildlife Service or CWS (), is a Branch of the Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada, a department of the Government of Canada. Founded in 1947 as Dominion Wildlife Service, it is Canada's national wildlife agency resp ...
, the Department of Energy and Mines and the Canada Manpower Centre, located in the building. At times some of the space was even rented as private apartments. In 1968 a fire in the upper storey required that it be gutted, and the rest of the building suffered fire and water damage. In the 1970s, with the city's population growing rapidly, the implementation of
letter carrier A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier (in American English), or colloquially postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Unite ...
delivery to individual houses was considered. It was found not to be workable at that time, and general delivery continued to be the preferred method of receiving mail. The courts moved to a new building nearby in 1978. The population growth continued. Early in the 1980s general delivery to the population became less and less feasible. In 1982 post office boxes were offered, and later in the decade carrier service to residents was finally implemented, with Yellowknife's original
postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...
of X0E 1H0 ended gradually and replaced with the current X1A Forward Sortation Code. During the 1990s the building was renovated again, altering its exterior appearance significantly as a new facade and windows were installed. Nevertheless, enough of its original materials remained for it be listed on the
Canadian Register of Historic Places The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP; , ), also known as Canada's Historic Places, is an online directory of historic places in Canada which have been formally recognized for their heritage value by a federal, provincial, territorial ...
in 2006, in recognition of its role in catalyzing the development of Yellowknife's New Town and providing a centre for the growing community. The city council formally designated it a city heritage site the following year. " en I was a young woman in this town, this is where you went to find everybody," recalled city councillor Amanda Mallon. Public Works Canada, however, refused to allow the city to affix an informational plaque to the building, since it was still owned by the federal government. In 2010, the government decided to surplus the building, and a private concern, 6133 NWT Ltd., a
partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...
between Denendeh Investments and JV Development, took over ownership.
Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (, trading as Canada Post (), is a Canadian Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operating name of the Post Office Department of the Can ...
leased its former space and continued operations. The new owners allowed the city to affix a plaque early that year. Four years later, the city removed the benches from the sidewalks in front of the post office after postal workers and patrons complained that
homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
people loitering there after a nearby shelter had been closed were harassing them, drinking and urinating on the building. The owners had asked that the planters be removed as well to eliminate all sitting space, and indicated it would look for some means to discourage people from sitting on them in the meantime. A local teenager organized a
sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...
protest on
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in response, attracting others to bring their lawn chairs and sit in front of the post office during lunch hour. " meless people in Yellowknife are being treated like animals, and no one deserves that," she told a reporter. Many other residents supported the protest, saying they had never experienced any problems with the people sitting on the benches. One postal worker said she had no complaints and found the city's response overly harsh, likening it to "
grade school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
when a few kids are misbehaving and the whole class ends up getting in trouble." Mark Heyck, the city's mayor, said removing the benches was a temporary measure as the city looked for long-term solutions to address the problem.


See also

* List of historic places in the Northwest Territories


References


External links

*{{commonscat-inline Buildings and structures in Yellowknife Historic buildings and structures in the Northwest Territories Canada Post Post office buildings in Canada Government buildings completed in 1956 Federal government buildings in the Northwest Territories