It represents one of Whitehorse's first links to the Outside, and now the MacBride Museum wants it designated as a municipal historic site.

Museum chair Hank Moorlag brought forward the proposal to designate the 1900 telegraph building on the museum's site downtown at Monday evening's city council meeting.

As he described in his presentation to council, the 1-1/2 storey log structure was one of the first buildings to be constructed in the new town of Whitehorse. For more than 25 years, it served as both the telegraph office and operator's residence until radio communication phased out the telegraph.

"It was one of the two buildings to survive the 1905 fire,” Moorlag said, recalling the blaze which destroyed much of the city.

While the original use for the structure ended with the advent of radio technology, the building would eventually become the original home for the museum in 1952.

In recent years, the MacBride has done stabilization work on the building. Officials now want the historical designation as it readies for more upgrades to bring it up to proper building codes.

As was stated in a backgrounder on the proposal: "The telegraph office is recommended for designation because of its historical and cultural associations and its prominent location near the waterfront.

"The telegraph office represents the founding of the community and the nationally significant Dawson-Ashcroft Telegraph Line that gave Whitehorse a near instantaneous link to the rest of the country.

"This was crucial to developing the transportation and mercantile economy upon which Whitehorse was based. Built in the first year of the new town of Whitehorse, this is one of the very few buildings in the city to survive from that period.

"Its nearly 60 years of use as a museum, or adjunct to the MacBride Museum, makes it one of the Yukon's oldest operating cultural facilities.”

The proposal had council members wondering what the city's financial role might be if it approves the designation.

While Moorlag confirmed the city would be under no financial obligation, he noted it would open up the possibility of the museum applying for city grants for work on the building.

There's currently about $100,000 in the city's heritage fund for such projects, Rob Fendrick, director of administrative services, told council later in the meeting.

A staff report to council notes the designation would fit with the city's Official Community Plan, which states that "Every effort will be made to recognize buildings listed on the Whitehorse Heritage Registry by protecting the significance of the building's character and retaining the scale, spatial relationship, plantings and greenspace and where possible, the fabric and line of the existing buildings.”

The building scored a full 15 marks on the city's heritage registry, which looks architectural and cultural history, context, integrity and age.

The prominence of the building on the city's waterfront also "lends support for formal designation as this area is envisioned as the community, historical and recreational heart of the city,” the report stated.

If council votes in favour of first reading on the designation next week, a public hearing would then be held at council's Feb. 14 meeting.

Staff would then prepare a report on any issues that came up during the hearing for the Feb. 21 meeting prior to second and third readings coming forward on Feb. 28.