Government House (Saskatchewan) - Years Out of Service

Years Out of Service

Vice-regal palaces were something of an anomaly in the political climate and difficult economic situation of the Great Depression and World War II throughout North America but particularly on the prairies. In March 1944 during the eighth year in office of Lieutenant-Governor "Archie" McNab Government House was closed—its contents being sold—and a small office opened in Hotel Saskatchewan on Victoria Avenue downtown, then operated by the CPR, having opened in 1927. Thereafter, such provincial guests as royal visitors were also accommodated in luxury hotels.

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, renamed 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 the Pioneer Village nursing home and other uses.

From 1967 John Coulter's play "The Trial of Louis Riel" was performed throughout the summers in the Government House (then "Saskatchewan House") ballroom, arrayed as in photos of the original Supreme Court of the North-West Territories courthouse at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Hamilton Street, Regina, with members of the audience recruited as jurymen. Local lawyer Stephen Arsenych customarily performed the role of Riel.

However, the postwar period of supposed modernisation by demolishing old fashioned-seeming buildings such as the old city hall on 11th Avenue, several downtown movie theatres and both Knox United and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran churches. In 1968, Government House was designated a National Historic Site of Canada and soon came into restoration.