Description of Historic Place

Located in the Bear Creek Compound, Warehouse No.3, also known as Building 35, is located in an historic, non-operating, placer gold mining facility in the Klondike River valley. This large, rectangular, wood-frame construction is clad in corrugated sheet metal and is covered by a metal, gable roof. The front elevation has a roof overhang, large double doors, and a projecting wood housing for a traveling crane. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

Warehouse No. 3 is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental value.

Historical Value
Warehouse No. 3, as part of the Bear Creek Compound, is associated with the corporate phase of Yukon’s gold mining history, in particular the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation’s renewal and expansion program of the 1930s. The building also illustrates the importance of warehouses and other storage facilities at remote mining facilities, where the storage of machinery and equipment is necessary.

Architectural Value
Warehouse No.3 is a wood-frame building with a good aesthetic design. Its function as a storage hangar for large equipment is signaled by its size and its front elevation, which has a roof overhang, large double doors, and a projecting wood housing for a traveling crane. The openness of its ground floor work area and its mezzanine and access stair, are also evidence of its good functional design.

Environmental Value
Warehouse No.3 maintains an unchanged relationship to its site and reinforces the character of its industrial setting at the Bear Creek Compound. The structure is familiar to those within the area.

Sources:
Joan Mattie, Bear Creek Industrial Complex, Bear Creek, Yukon Federal Heritage Building Review Office Building Report 89-008; Warehouse No.3 (Building #35), Bear Creek Compound, Yukon, Heritage Character Statement, 89-008.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Warehouse No. 3 should be respected.
the simple and functional nature of its design, and its overall good workmanship and appropriate use of materials; the features of its form, construction, and materials that unify it with the site’s other buildings, including its rectangular shape, its gable roof, its corrugated sheet metal cladding and roof covering, and its wood-frame structure; its distinctive exterior features, such as the front double doors, the overhanging roof, and the projecting housing for the crane; the openness of its ground floor work area and its mezzanine and access stairs; its overhead travelling crane and its tracks.

The manner in which Warehouse No. 3 maintains an unchanged relationship to its site, reinforces the character of its industrial setting and is familiar, as evidenced by: its ongoing, comfortable relationship, due to its simple form, materials, detailing and colour scheme, to the other structures and landscape features of the site; its familiarity to visitors and to residents of Dawson given its location and association with the Bear Creek Compound.

Heritage Character Statement

Disclaimer - The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.

Warehouse No. 3 (Building #35) was constructed by the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corporation (YCGC) before 1939, and possibly as early as 1936, for the storage of machinery and equipment. It is part of the Bear Creek industrial complex, a service facility for the YCGC gold mining operations. Operations at the complex ceased in 1966, and the property was acquired by Parks Canada, its present custodian, in 1975. Warehouse No. 3 was subjected to an extensive program of replacement and repair in 1979.

Reasons for designation

Warehouse No. 3 is a 'Recognized' Federal Heritage Building because of its historical, architectural, and environmental values:

As part of the Bear Creek complex, Warehouse No. 3 is associated with the corporate phase of Yukon's gold mining history. It illustrates the YCGC's renewal and expansion program of the 1930s, and confirms the importance of secure storage locations for machinery and equipment at this remote site.

Warehouse No. 3 is simple and functional in design, but exhibits good workmanship and the appropriate use of materials. It is a large rectangular wood-frame construction, clad in corrugated sheet metal, with a metal-covered gable roof. Its function as a storage hangar for large equipment is signalled by its size and its front elevation, which has a roof overhang, large double doors, and a projecting wood housing for a travelling crane. A small door for personnel is inset into one of the double doors, and another small door is located at the rear of the building. The interior has a mezzanine level across the rear and down one side, with access by two sets of stairs.

Although not located with the main grouping of structures around the open yard of the Bear Creek Compound, Warehouse No. 3, as one of several industrial buildings with similar form and materials, reinforces the industrial character of this functionally obsolete but remarkably intact village-like mining service facility, with its 80 structures and landscape features typical of large-scale mechanical placer mining.


Character-defining elements

The following character-defining elements of Warehouse No. 3 should be respected:
· The simple and functional nature of its design, and its overall good workmanship and appropriate use of
materials.
· The features of its form, construction, and materials that unify it with the site's other buildings, including its
rectangular shape, its gable roof, its corrugated sheet metal cladding and roof covering, and its wood-frame
structure.
· Its distinctive exterior features, such as the front double doors, the overhanging roof, and the projecting
housing for the crane.
· The openness of its ground floor work area and its mezzanine and access stairs.
· Its overhead travelling crane and its tracks.
· Its comfortable relationship ' due to its simple form, materials, detailing, and colour scheme ' to the other
structures and landscape features of the site.