Government House (Saskatchewan)
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Government House, Regina, Saskatchewan, was constructed as a residence for the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, whose territorial headquarters were in Regina until the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were created out of the Territories in 1905 and Regina became the capital of Saskatchewan. At that point Government House became the viceregal residence of Saskatchewan.
Government House, designed by the Dominion architect, Thomas Fuller together with the Territorial government buildings east on Dewdney Avenue, was completed in 1891 at a cost of $50,000. It replaced the cold, drafty wooden 1883 Government House which stood on the current site of Luther College until its demolition in 1908. The new building was the first residence in the Territories to be electrified (the Regina YMCA had been electrified in 1890). A conservatory was built in 1901 and a ballroom in 1929.
Vice-regal palaces were something of an anomaly in the political climate of 1940s Saskatchewan, and in March 1945 the Lieutenant-Governor's office and residence were moved out of Government House and into the Hotel Saskatchewan, then operated by the CPR in downtown Regina. The furnishings and household goods were sold at auction. Government House was leased to the federal Department of Veterans Affairs for use as a veterans rehabilitation facility. In 1958, re-named Saskatchewan House, the building entered into 10 years' use as an adult education centre until it was proposed that it be demolished and the site redeveloped. A large part of the extensive grounds had already been sold for the construction of a nursing home and other uses.
However, historically-minded local groups including the Regina Chamber of Commerce, Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, Regina Council of Women and the City of Regina were brought together to fight for the preservation of and restoration of the building. In 1971 the Society for the Preservation and Restoration of Saskatchewan House (now the Government House Historical Society) was formed and by 1980 its efforts were rewarded. Government House, its original name and historical fittings and many historical contents restored, re-opened as a historic site for public education and edification.
In 1984 the offices of the Lieutenant-Governor returned to Government House, though the Lieutenant-Governor is housed in accommodation provided by the federal government, reflecting the constitutionally somewhat anomalous role of Ottawa in providing vice-regal appointments for the provinces.
The tradition of the Lieutenant-Governor holding an New Years Day levee in the Government House foyer and ballroom for the public was resumed immediately after the Lieutenant-Governor's offices returned there. Guides in period costume give free tours of Government House. The Government House Historical Society holds a Victorian tea in the ballroom on some weekends during the spring, summer and fall season.
[edit] See also
- Lieutenant-Governors of Saskatchewan
- Monarchy in Saskatchewan
- Government Houses of Canada
- Government Houses of the British Empire
- Saskatchewan Legislative Building
[edit] External links
[edit] References
Drake, Earl G. Regina, the Queen City. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Ltd, 1955.
Hryniuk, Margaret and Pugh, Garth. "A Tower of Attraction" An Illustrated History of Government House, Regina, Saskatchewan. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 1991.
