The Saskatchewan Power Building is a fourteen-storey office building located at 2025 Victoria Avenue in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

. Designed by architect Joseph Pettick (1924-2010) and completed in 1963, it is Regina's best example of

modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

. At the time of its completion it was the tallest building in Regina, and would remain so until 1967 when the

Avord Tower The Avord Tower is a 16-story office tower in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The 16 story building was completed in 1967 and is an example of Modernist architecture. The Avord Tower stands on the site of the old North-West Territories Supreme Court ...

surpassed it at sixteen stories.

History

In 1955 Joseph Pettick left the firm Portnall and Stock and formed his own practice. Pettick's first building was an office located at 2146 Albert Street, built for a steel pipe company. At the sod-turning ceremony Pettick met David Cass-Beggs, the head of the

Saskatchewan Power Corporation Saskatchewan Power Corporation, operating as SaskPower, is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1929 by the provincial government, it serves more than 538,000 customers and manages over $11.8 billion in assets. Sa ...

. During their conversation Cass-Beggs mentioned that the company was thinking of constructing a new office to consolidate their staff. After meeting Cass-Beggs on several occasions at art events in the city over the next few months, Pettick received a phone call one evening and was told that he had been selected to design the new office for the Saskatchewan Power Corporation. Over the next few years Pettick worked with the company to design and build the new office tower, which finally opened in 1963.

Design

The Saskatchewan Power Building is an early example of the turn away from Internationalism towards

Post Modernism Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

. In lieu of the right angles and rectilinear forms of the former style, Pettick employed flowing curvature and a less formal order. One of the greatest influences on Pettick's design was Brazilian architect

Oscar Niemeyer Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...

, and specifically Niemeyer's

Edifício Copan The Edifício Copan (''Copan Building'') is a 118.44-metre (459 ft.) tall, 38-story residential building in downtown São Paulo, Brazil. It has 1,160 apartments, 70 commercial establishments and is one of the largest buildings in Brazil. De ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. The Saskatchewan Power Building is also one of the first examples of a new Canadian prairie style of architecture, which would be further developed over the next two decades by architects such as

Douglas Cardinal Douglas Joseph Cardinal (born 7 March 1934) is a Canadian architect based in Ottawa, Ontario. His flowing architecture marked with smooth curvilinear forms is influenced by his Indigenous heritage as well as European Expressionist architecture.< ...

and Peter Hemingway. Pettick chose to colour the building a light tan, similar to that of a prairie field. From above, the curvature of the building can also be seen as symbolic of wind-blown wheat.

Sources

*''Regina's Secret Spaces: Love and Lore of Local Geography''. Edited by Lorne Beug, Anne Campbell, and Jeannie Mah. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2006. {{Coord , 50.4468, N, 104.6101, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Regina, Saskatchewan Joseph Pettick buildings