SCC Building History

Original 1912 Building

The building at 813 Broadway Avenue in Saskatoon was constructed in 1912 by Saskatoon Mutal Fire Assurance Company (SFMA) and was designed by Bugenhagen and Turnball. It cost $13,000 to build, which is approximately $345,000 in 2025. Although SFMA funded construction of the building, it most famously housed the Nutana Branch of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), which earned it the unofficial nickname of “The Royal Bank Building.” This branch of RBC opened on February 10, 1913, and remained until 1966 when it moved across the street, a location that has since closed. The three original businesses located within 8the building were the Royal Bank (in the basement and first floor), Saskatoon Mutal Fire Assurance Company (in second floor), and Western Commercial College (in third floor).

Over the building’s lifetime, the basement, second, and third floors were often rented out as apartments. The only notable tenant found in our research was musician Graeme Card of the country-folk group Humphrey and the Dumptrucks.

Many printing companies rented space at 813 Broadway Ave, often located in the basement of the building. These included Nutana Printers, Saskatoon Printers (who published “The Herald” for local farmers), and K.S. Thordarson. In the late 1960s and into the ‘70s, the building had a “Kindergarten Era,” where Saskatoon French School, Carousel Nursery Kindergarten, and Peter Pan Kiddie Centre rotated through the main floor and basement. In sharp contrast, Cupid Dating and Escort Service and Sir’s Exotic Dance Studio took up business on the third floor in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

In 1974, Northland Books’ original building burnt down, and they moved into our beloved building. For the next 15 years, Garry and Janice Shoquist ran their bookstore on the first floor of the building. During this time, Saskatoon’s first vegetarian restaurant, Bread ‘n Broth, opened on the second floor, serving lunch and dinner to Broadway visitors.

After Northland Books sadly closed, the Saskatchewan Craft Council (SCC) bought the building for $25,000. Originally the SCC worked out of a small building on Idylwyld Drive but moved to Broadway on September 1, 1990. In 2025, the SCC celebrates their 50th anniversary as an organization.

Bank Robbery

Our building has an infamous story in its long history. In the early evening of September 7, 1951, two men robbed the Royal Bank of Canada’s Nutana Branch at 813 Broadway Avenue in Saskatoon. Earlier the same duo stole a car from Saskatoon teacher Marion Graham, which they planned to use as a getaway vehicle. Wearing blue overalls and masks made with brown pantyhose, the men threatened bank workers with revolvers. In total, they stole $10,731, the value of which would be about $130,000 today.

The two thieves thought they could make a clean getaway, but fortunately two bystanders witnessed the two suspicious men enter the bank. Clay Rogelstad of Saskatoon and Walter Koshman of Moose Jaw pulled their car behind the stolen vehicle and watched as the robbery took place. As they rushed out of the bank, Rogelstad and Koshman followed. Realizing they were being pursued, the robbers sped away. The ensuing car chase reached speeds upward of 140 kilometres an hour. The cars first sped west on 10th Street, and then south on Lorne Avenue towards the Saskatoon Golf & Country Club. After this they turned east on a country road and made it to Clarence Avenue. As the cars raced up Clarence, shots were fired. The stolen car entered the University of Saskatchewan campus from the streetcar terminal, which was located where Dairy Queen is now, on College Drive. The robbers finally lost their tail as they abandoned the car near the College of Medicine and headed on foot toward the riverbank.

By this time, police had been alerted to the robbery and car chase. Our criminal duo may have even escaped, if it weren’t for the new addition of radios in police cars informing officers where they had fled. Hiding near the Chemistry Department (present day Thorvaldson Building), the two theives were dividing up the loot when an RMCP dog named Dirk found them. They were taken in by police and later identified as Peter Melnyk and John Hunter of Vancouver.

Public Art

The Saskatchewan Craft Council is proud to house two public art pieces on the north side of the building, River and Sky by Tony Stallard, Joseph Naytowhow, and Kenneth T Williams, and Creator Save the Matriarch by Young Indigenous Women’s Utopia.

Installed in 2017, River and Sky is a neon light piece which says “nipiy mîna sîpiy” in Cree syllabics. This phrase means “river and sky” in English and is pronounced “SEE’-pee MEE’-nuh KEE’-sik.” This piece is owned by the City of Saskatoon as part of the Placemaker Program, which aims to add significance to civic spaces and engage with audiences to promote an appreciation for contemporary art practices. River and Sky is the sister piece to Land of Berries, located on the north side of Persephone Theatre.

“The intention of River and Sky is to create a poetic site-specific artwork that reflects the sacred and ritualistic space of Treaty 6,” reads a media release from the City of Saskatoon. “It connects to the Treaty relationship, referencing the text ‘as long as the river flows, the grass grows, and the sun shines.’ These words remind us that this Treaty is a permanent relationship and that it is meant to be honoured forever. The sculpture also embodies the importance of the Elders’ historic meeting place near the river, which is also a contemporary location to gather, meet, and socialize.” Unfortunately, the piece has been unlit for several years, as the neon tube lights were no match for the harsh winter winds in Saskatoon.

Creator Save the Matriarch, an 8 by 20 foot mural, was painted by members of Young Indigenous Women’s Utopia (YIWU) in 2021. YIWU is made up of Indigenous girls aged 14 to 16 and was founded by a project called Network for Change, an international initiative based out of McGill University. YIWU aims to create Indigenous spaces in Saskatoon and uses art to reclaim their culture.

“This mural represents all Indigenous families and how we have survived years of genocide,” said Gabby Daniels, one of the YIWU artists. “We wanted the mural to be a message, a message of our resistance as Matriarchs to gender based violence.”

The group of young artists described their work like this: “This mural depicts a strong intergenerational family unit connected by ceremony at dawn. It evokes medicine wheel teachings. Because YIWU is a youth-lead project, a braid of sweetgrass (youth medicine) is tying this community together. Many of the figures are wearing traditional garb embedded with symbolism. The matriarch, holding sage, is wearing a ribbon skirt featuring a rainbow flag to signal pride and LGBTQ2 allyship. Her fierce stance and blindfold evoke notions of justice (which is blind) and liberty! The baby that she wears is connected to blossoming tobacco. The kookum (grandmother) is holding cedar. Her ribbon skirt features the trans flag and two eagle feathers to show her support for 2-spirit people. The uncle’s outfit features the strength of the bear claw, with a sash bandana in his pocket, and the colors of the medicine wheel. The youth’s sweater is emblazoned with the acronym FOE – which stands for “Family Over Everything.” She stands in protest and demands a new future free of stolen sisters. The women all stand strong and wear the powerful color red. Together they resist and insist on a safer future that celebrates Indigenous girls’ resilience, diversity, strength, and culture.”

SCC in 813: 35 of our 50 years

The Saskatchewan Craft Council was founded in 1975 and our first gallery space was opened in 1984 on Idylwyld Drive. The organization quickly outgrew this small building and began to search for a larger space in order to show local, national, and international exhibitions. In 1990, the SCC bought the building at 813 Broadway Avenue and officially moved our gallery and offices in on September 1 of that year.

The young staff of the organization were excited to be in a culturally vibrant area of Saskatoon and to have a place to properly promote craft and expand their programming. On December 14, 1990, an official opening reception as held with over 600 guests in attendance. Honoured guests included SCC founding members, donors, politicians, and The Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, Sylvia Fedoruk, who declared the new building officially open. The grand opening of this new gallery space coincided with the organization’s 15th anniversary. To celebrate these two milestones, our first exhibition on Broadway was a selection of pieces from past prize winners of Dimensions entitled Something New on Broadway.

The gallery has always occupied the first floor, but at one time our offices were in the basement. Horror stories passed between staff members tell of workers chain smoking in these basement offices. Since smoking bylaws changed, the building is now smoke free, and the offices have moved up to the brightly lit second floor.

Throughout the years, our gallery has always featured an exhibition, which are switched every two to four months. This rotating display changes the landscape of the interior and makes it nearly unrecognizable from show to show. We have displayed fine craft from many artists local to Saskatchewan, as well as from across Canada and around the world. Since that first exhibition Something New on Broadway, we have showcased over 250 exhibitions in the gallery!

The façade of the building has remained largely the same since the SCC moved in. At one time tere was a stone archway over the two front doors, but this was taken down in the 1940s. The iconic brick second and third floor exterior has stood the test of time, with the 1912 plaque on the very top still denoting its build date. Awnings over the windows have popped on and off, following fashion trends. The exterior first floor has changed the most over the years. The colour of the walls has changed from off-white with dark highlights in the 1990s, to off-white in the 2000s, to a dark green in the 2010s, and finally to the white and teal of today. For a couple of years in the 2010s, Affinity Credit Union sponsored the gallery, which changed our name to Affinity Gallery. This change introduced a large lit sign which hung outside the second story. Affinity was given naming rights in exchange for $10,000 a year, for five years. In 2016, the Broadway District experienced a rash of vandalizations, which included the smashing of our front window. Taking this opportunity, we installed UV resistant window glass that has enabled us to display craft without worrying about sunlight fading the items’ surfaces. At this same time, we added a display box to showcase available products to passing pedestrians.

One of the most notable fixtures inside our Shop and Gallery is the ceramic archway by the reception desk. For years this archway stood as the divide between our gallery space and our resource centre, which held magazines and books available to artist members. That space now holds the SCC Fine Craft Shop! The archway is titled Portal and was created by Judy Tryon and Ken Wilkinson, as part of Clay Inside and Out. The exhibition was displayed in SCC Gallery in March 2007 and then Portal was donated by the artists to the organization. The exhibition “rediscover[ed] and redefine[d] ceramics in architecture in public buildings and private homes.” The tiles on the inner frame feature the names of donors who gave to a fundraising project which raised money for a new gallery floor. This was successful and new tiles were installed in the mid-2010s.

The building at 813 Broadway Avenue has had many renovations since the SCC moved in. Features that remain from past businesses include the vault in the basement and lead pipes in the walls. The gallery light system has been updated twice, in 2013 and in 2023, giving our Exhibitions staff literal spotlights to show off Saskatchewan artisans’ work.

SCC staff work on the first floor, second floor, and in the basement, and we have leased the third floor space to various tenants since the SCC took ownership. Artist Paul Lapointe had his studios on the third floor in the late ‘90s before it was rented out to the Broadway Business Improvement District. During a handful of years in the 2010s, the third floor was occupied by a counsellor’s office. Currently, tattoo artist Kenna Plume’s studio fills the space.

In 2014, the SCC opened a little store at the back of the gallery. Called SCC Fine Craft Boutique, it originally featured work by 56 artists. As of 2025, SCC Fine Craft Shop showcases work by over 130 artists from around the province. All artists who sell through this shop are juried, which means their artwork has been evaluated by experts in their specific medium according to written guidelines. This ensures the work is expertly handcrafted and designed entirely by the artists themselves.

We like to think that every creak of the walls and crack from the floorboards is the building at 813 Broadway Avenue breathing and growing with the Saskatchewan Craft Council. We invite you to visit our gallery, open Monday through Saturday, 11 am to 5 pm.