St. Vital Museum

The St. Vital Museum is housed in the former St. Vital Fire Hall, a fine multiple-purpose civic building whose well-appointed exterior, boldly executed in red brick and light limestone, recalls St. Vital’s early twentieth-century transformation from a rural to an urban community. Designed by Alexandre Melville, the station in form, features and interior layout is very similar to a standardized series of functional, aesthetically pleasing firehalls that he and his Architect-brother William planned in 1904-13 for Winnipeg and its then neighboring municipalities. St. Vital’s facility differed in its initial dual role of accommodating police as well as fire services. Its location was especially strategic, situated near a hub of local commercial activity at the junction of two thoroughfares and next to the Red River from which water could be drawn for the pumpers.