Wascana Centre

Wascana Centre
Downtown Regina, seen from Wascana Lake in Wascana Centre
Map
TypePublic park
LocationRegina, Saskatchewan
Coordinates50°25′57″N 104°36′24″W / 50.4325°N 104.6068°W / 50.4325; -104.6068
Area9.3 square kilometres (2,300 acres)
Created1908
1962 (incorporation)
Operated byGovernment of Saskatchewan
StatusOpen all year
Canoeing on Wascana Lake, pre-1905 when weir was 11⁄2 blocks west of present location and lake larger: Note farm buildings on the future site of the provincial legislative building
Wascana Lake drained in 1931 prior to the deepening of the bed. Note Regina College, the Normal School and the landscaped diagonal site of the never-built Anglican Cathedral on the corner of Broad St and College Avenue
Wascana Lake from the Legislative Building in the 1970s
Regina Campus from Wascana Lake before it became University of Regina in June 1974
Weir across Wascana Creek creating reservoir of Wascana Lake which is the focal point of the Wascana Centre
Wascana Lake in winter from south shore near the legislative building

Wascana Centre is a 930-hectare (9.3 km2/2,300 acre/3.6 mi2) urban park built around Wascana Lake in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, established in 1912 with a design from renowned architect Thomas Mawson. The park is designed around the Saskatchewan Legislative Building and Wascana Lake. High-profile features include the University of Regina, Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Conexus Arts Centre, Saskatchewan Science Centre, and CBC Regional Broadcast Centre. Wascana Centre brings together lands and buildings owned by the City of Regina, University of Regina, and Province of Saskatchewan. The park is located immediately south of the city's downtown core, bordered by residential areas on the east, south and west, and on the south-east edge it spills out onto open Saskatchewan prairie along Wascana Creek.

Wascana lake was created in 1883 by damming Wascana Creek, a low flow seasonal run-off stream, to serve as a reliable water reservoir for the town and railway, and which residents readily began using for recreation. In 1905 Saskatchewan gained provincial status and planning began on a monumental — and in retrospect wildly optimistic — new capital building in Regina, a vision which required an equally monumental landscaping plan. The new Saskatchewan Legislative Building was completed in 1912 and with it the 1912 Mawson Plan for Wascana Park.[1]

By the 1950s the city was growing rapidly and pressures on the park led to its incorporation as the Wascana Centre Authority (1962), with a mandate to establish an ongoing vision protecting the park as a valued asset of the city and province. The first Master Plan was developed the same year in conjunction with a new University of Saskatchewan[2] campus to be built on the southeast end of the park. A revised Master Plan has been published every five to seven years since, the most recent being 2016.[1]

In 2017 Wascana Centre Authority was dissolved and management was absorbed into the Saskatchewan government's Provincial Capital Commission.[3]

  1. ^ a b "Wascana Centre 2016 Master Plan". Wascana Centre. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  2. ^ Fletcher, Tom. "The Work of Minoru Yamasaki," New York Architecture Images and Notes. Internet: http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON001G.htm.
  3. ^ "Province to take over management, operation of Wascana Centre". CBC News. March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.