Art Moderne, a late type of the Art Deco architecture and design emerged in the 1930s, emphasizing curving forms and long horizontal lines. Revelstoke's City Hall follows this scheme to a great extent, with a curved corner on an extension on the southwest side of the building and large expanses of masonry broken by multiple horizontal lines. The flowing script of the numbers,
1939, on the southwest wall of the building bespeak their Art Deco heritage, as well. A somewhat odd feature of the building is its tall tower with vents at the top, suggestive of a bell tower.
Designed by architect C.B.K. Van Norman, the building is now considered a heritage building, primarily for its exterior Art Deco design. The building was originally "
a flat finish Monterey White, while the window sash, windows and door trim were a high-gloss finish Strathcona Mahogany". The "Then" photo here, from the early 1960s, though black & white, depicts the building as it was originally.
Back in 2010 the Canadian Art Deco Society put a halt to repairs of the exterior stucco, protesting that any repairs should be done in a sympathetic style so as to retain the building's architectural integrity. Several options were presented, with the option of replacing the failing stucco being accepted and implemented.
In 2015 architecturally sympathetic renovations to the southwest side of the building were completed at a cost of $410,651, a good deal more than the initial budget of $285,000 but substantially less then the first bid of $598,000. A year or two prior to that interior renovations had been carried out.
The original building was built as a school in 1891 and was moved to the current Mackenzie Avenue location in 1903, where it served as City Offices and Fire Hall. The old building was demolished in 1938 and replaced by the current Art Moderne structure.
From a historical plaque affixed to city hall
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