Humboldt's Historic Sites

Courthouse and Land Titles

Corner of Main Street and Eighth Avenue

A Rare Combination
In 1913, Humboldt became the headquarters of a Judicial District bearing its name. A year later, land was purchased from Otto Ritz for $4,000 for a structure that would combine the courthouse and land titles office.

The Humboldt Courthouse and Land Titles building was constructed between 1914 and 1916. The estimate for the structure was $80,000. The building was designed by Raymond Philbrick and built by Parson Engineering and Construction Company of Regina. Construction began in 1914 but was halted by the beginning of World War I. Work started again in the spring of 1915 and the building was considered to be finished enough by April 1916 for a Supreme Court sitting.

The building is faced with Manitoba limestone and buff brick from Bruno. The Canadian Coat of Arms is emblazoned in stone over the court house entrance, with the date MCMXIV (1914).

The combined courthouse and land titles office was the second building of this type constructed in Saskatchewan before 1920. These structures were an attempt to reduce costs, but the trend was not continued as the Humboldt building was the last attempt at a dual function structure.

Court House
Since its inception in 1916, the Court House housed the Court of Queen's Bench and Provincial Court, and had jurisdiction over civil litigation, family law and divorce matters, adoptions, probate of wills, small claims matters, Judge and Jury and Judge alone trials of offences under the Criminal Code, and matters under the Highway Traffic Act.

Land Titles
The Humboldt office was the only land titles office that still operated in its original building when the computerized land system was implemented in March 2002. With this new system, the land titles office was moved out of the building.

This building was designated a municipal heritage site in 1984.