Key Number:	HS 15637
Site Name:	Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital
Other Names:
Site Type:	1503 - Medical: Hospital or Infirmary

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			37	14	4

Address:	5402-5406 - 47 Street
Number:	2-6
Street:	47
Avenue:	54
Other:
Town:	Castor
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:	L
Storeys:	Storeys: 2 1/2
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Concrete
Superstructure:
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:	Medium Gable
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:
Exterior:	Pedimented boxed cornice, partial balcony on west end, and northwest side, balcony and verandah east side.
Interior:	N/A
Environment:	Hospital address: 5402 - 47 Street Extended care: 5406 - 47 Street
Condition:	Structure: Good. Repair: Good. FEB 1981.
Alterations:	N/A

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Constructed.	1911/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Residence & Records. Hospital	1911/01/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
Daughters of Wisdom	1911/01/01

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	N/A
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	Owned and operated by the Daughters of Wisdom. It is now a residence and a centre for filing records. In the basement on the south end or, Shea presently has her dental office. The new hospital, opened in 1962, bears the same name as its predecessor, but it is a municipal hospital. 1931-1957-1961 additions. By-law 31, granting the Sisters of Wisdom, a body incorporated, exemption from taxation and a grant of $3000, was passed by a sweeping majority. Work on the hospital will go ahead at once. It is situated on the north-west side of town. A 20,000 hospital is being started. $50,000 Catholic Brick hospital.   The townsite of Castor (French for Beaver) was subdivided by the CPR in December of 1909. As it was at the 'end of steel', it immediately experienced an economic boom and within 8 months was incorporated as a town with a population of 1100. Among the amenities immediately need by the new town was a hospital. The Town Council approached the Resident Roman Catholic priest, Father Leconte, with a proposition that a hospital site, exemption from taxation and a grant of $3000 would be made available if some religious order would undertake to construct and operate the hospital. Such hospitals were not uncommon in the west. Father Leconte approached the Daughters of Wisdom, a medicinal order of nuns, with the proposal. They agreed and the Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital was officially blessed and opened for the public on the 29 of October 1911.   RESOURCE                             1911 Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital ADDRESS                                4506 - 47 Street, Castor BUILT                                      circa 1911 DESIGNATION STATUS        Registered Historic Resource   HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE   The settlement of Castor on the Canadian Pacific Railway line southeast of Stettler attained village status in November 1909 and was incorporated as a town in July 1910.   In order to meet the medical needs of the population, the town established a Castor and District Hospital Board and temporary hospital in 1910.   The Board negotiated with Father Leconte and the Catholic Church to attract a religious order to operate the hospital.   In 1911, construction started on a new 90 x 40 ft. hospital, to be administered by the Daughters of Wisdom.   The hospital was consecrated as Our Lady of the Rosary in October admitted its first patients in November that year.   The original Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital was expanded in 1920 and again in 1930, and connected to a new structure in 1962.   It has been used as an integral part of the hospital operations continuously since its initial construction. Architectural Context Statement Des. 1781 Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital, Castor Prepared by: Dorothy Field Date: November 5, 2007 Period of Significance: From: 1911 To: The Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital in Castor was built in 1911, by the Sisters of Wisdom order of Roman Catholic nuns, with the financial aid of the Village of Castor. Castor had grown rapidly in the wake of the arrival of the railway, and the need for health care was acutely felt. The hospital the nuns erected was intended to have a cruciform plan, but since the west wing was not completed above the foundation, it initially appears to be a substantial two-storey, rectangular brick building with a T-shaped roof plan. The main door is on the east-facing long side of the rectangle. The cross gable on that side of the building extends beyond the rectangular footprint to form a wide portico, with the gable end serving as a pediment. The name of the hospital has always been emblazoned on this pediment. Small hip-roofed gables flank the main gable, and a louvred cupola surmounted by a cross crowns the portico roof. In 1920, the west wing of the hospital was completed. Interestingly, the roof of this wing does not match the front portion of the building, but has a Mansard roof. The hospital's south wing was extended in 1929-1930. The design of the Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital is simple, yet the classical references of its public face are clear. This is in contrast to the style adopted for the major hospitals built by the Roman Catholic Church, which clearly exhibited their French-Canadian heritage. The Castor hospital is consistent with the older mission buildings found at locations such as Lac La Biche and St. Albert. The mixture of styles found in the Our Lady of the Rosary Hospital is also evident at Morinville, where the Rectory of the St. Jean Baptiste Church has a brick foursquare front portion with a gable serving as a pediment, and a rear portion with a Mansard roof. In the latter case the building was also built in stages, but it was the rear portion that came first. The design of the Our Lady of the Rosary is an interesting variation on the two streams of architecture evident in Roman Catholic institutional buildings in Alberta.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	2009/12/15

Register:	N/A

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0629