Key Number:	HS 21530
Site Name:	1904 Lacombe Blacksmith Shop
Other Names:	Selvais' Welding
Site Type:	0400 - Mercantile/Commercial: General and Mixed Use Commercial

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			40	26	4

Address:	5020 - 49 Street
Number:	20
Street:	49
Avenue:	50
Other:
Town:	Lacombe
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:	Rectangular Short Facade
Storeys:	Storeys: 1 1/2
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Concrete
Superstructure:	Nailed Frame
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:	Medium Gable
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:	Massing of Units: Single Detached Wings: Rear Number of Bays - Facade: First or Ground Floor, 3 Bays Number of Bays - Facade: Second Floor, 1 Bay Wall Design and Detail: None Boomtown or False Front Plain Eaves Roof Trim - Verges: Not Applicable Towers, Steeples and Domes: None Dormer Type: None Chimney Location - Side to Side: Offset Left Chimney Location - Front to Rear: Offset Rear Chimney Stack Material: Metal Chimney Stack Massing: Single Roof Trim - Special Features: None Window - Structural Opening Shape: Flat Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Head: Moulded Flat Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Sides: Moulded Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Material: Wood Window - Sill Type: Plain Lug Sill Window - Sill Material: Wood Window - Trim Within Structural Opening - Head: Plain Window - Trim Within Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Window - Number of Sashes: One Window - Opening Mechanism: Fixed Window - Special Types: None Window - Pane Arrangements: 4 by 4 Main Entrance - Location: Off-Centre (Facade) Main Entrance - Structural Opening Shape: Flat Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Head: Moulded Flat Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Sides: Moulded Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening Material: Wood Main Entrance - Trim Within Structural Opening - Head: Plain Main Entrance - Trim Within Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Main Entrance - Number of Leaves: 1 Main Entrance - Number of Panels Per Leaf: 5 Main Entrance - Leaves - Special Feature: Glass Main Stairs - Location and Design: None Main Porch - Type: None
Exterior:	Multilight windows, moulded wndow frames, rear addition is stucco with gable roof. Dimensions: 26' x 43'
Interior:	N/A
Environment:	Lot Size: 50' by 120' in a commercial area
Condition:	Structure - Fair Repair - Fair
Alterations:	Apparent Alterations and/or Additions: Frame addition to rear, 1954 - 40' by 46'

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Construction Started ca.	1904/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Blacksmith Shop Welding Shop	1907/01/01 1972/01/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
The Maski-Pitoon Historical Society John McNab J. Selvais	1907/01/01 1972/01/01

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	N/A
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	Original owner and tenant was John McNab. Present owner is J.I. Selvais.   HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE In 1904 Alfred Jacob Weddle, blacksmith, became the first in a long series of metal workers to have owned this property.  Stanely Sandford Watson and Alfred Dickie Watson bought it from him in 1905, with Fredrick Taylor replacing Stanley in the partnership in 1906.  John McNabb, a blacksmith like Weddle, the Watsons and Taylor, purchased the site in 1906 and operated his business there until 1929.  Even at that late date John Reeves, the new owner, listed his occupation as blacksmith on the certificate of title. Industrial buildings of this period generally followed the “boomtown front” pattern in Alberta’s smaller communities.   This structure built between 1905 and 1907, is a typical example of the type.  It is utilitarian in that the gable-roofed building provides a large work area, with little or no attention to style.  The simplicity of design rather than any applied ornament or historically derived style accounts for the building’s aesthetic impact.  Originally constructed of wood, the shop has since been clad in corrugated metal and for years has been the home of Selvais’ Welding, a locally owned and operating metal working business.      The Lacombe Blacksmith Shop has both local and provincial significance.   The village of Lacombe had 100 people in 1900, and was already a local center.   This building is one of the few business structures remaining from that early period, as fires over the years have destroyed much of Lacombe’s early built environment.   On a provincial level, this building is one of the few pre-1914 blacksmithing shops left in the province.   Blacksmiths played a vital role in settlement history, shoeing horses and repairing agricultural implements. Description of Historic Place The Lacombe Blacksmith Shop was built sometime between 1902 and 1907. It is a simple, rectangular, gable-roofed building clad entirely in corrugated sheet metal. Its front facade is dominated by a large boomtown front with a central, double-wide sliding door flanked by a window and a regular doorway. The shop exhibits a high level of interior integrity and contains numerous original fixtures and blacksmithing artifacts. * * * BLACKSMITH SHOP 5020 - 49 Street 1904 This building, constructed in 1904, is the oldest operating Blacksmith Shop in Alberta. Blacksmith were some of the most important people in the life of early Albertans as they were able to shoe horses (the most common form of transportation), and repair metal machinery, wagon wheels, and farm vehicles. This Blacksmith Shop building is typical of those utilitarian industrial structures built during the early part of Alberta settlement. The building features a typical boomtown front, which conceals the plain gabled roof behind that covers the large open work area.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	2011/06/16

Register:	N/A

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0638