Government and Commercial Buildings

Feature Articles

This article discusses the transformation of the historic Imperial Bank of Canada, downtown, into a new World Trade Centre for Edmonton.

The Transit Hotel of Packingtown

The Transit Hotel opened in 1908 outside of Edmonton in a place called Packingtown, which became part of Edmonton in 1912. The future of the surviving Transit Hotel is uncertain as Fort Road is widened.

Westmount Mall at 50

Westmount Mall opened as Westmount Shoppers' Park in August of 1955, the first of many indoor shopping malls in Edmonton.

A World Class Heart Institute

The Mazankowski Heart Clinic, set to open in 2008, is a breakthrough innovation both in its design and its function.

Edmonton's Lost Omniplex

In the 1960s, the Edmonton Omniplex was planned. This is the story of the Omniplex that never was.

The Muttart Conservatory

Peter Hemingway's architectural masterpiece, the four pyramids of the Muttart Conservatory, leaves an unmistakable mark on Edmonton's skyline.

The Park Named For a Three-time Mayor

Hawrelak Park, originally named Mayfair Park, was renamed in honour of three-time mayor and controversial Edmonton celebrity William Hawrelak.

The Rejuvenation of Churchill Square

For Edmonton's Centennial in 2004, the city began work on an ambitious and controversial plan to renovate Churchill Square.

Walking into Strathcona's Past

Strathcona began as a competing town across from Edmonton on the southside of the North Saskatchewan River.

Greene Block

One of the most beautiful buildings in the heart of downtown Red Deer is the sandstone Greene Block, which stands on the south-west corner of Ross Street and Gaetz Avenue.

The most important public building in Alberta is the familiar Legislative Assembly Building overlooking the banks of the North Saskatchewan River and, formerly, the remains of Fort Edmonton. The juxtaposition of these two important historic sites suggests the transformation of Alberta from a resource hinterland to a modern province. It was a building that suggested a social order and political power to be aspired to.

The architect, A. M. Jeffers, supervised work on the Building from 1907 to 1912. He is also credited with designing a number of Alberta's best known public buildings, including courthouses in Calgary, Fort Saskatchewan, Cardston, Wetaskiwin and the Normal School in Calgary. As Janet Wright notes in "How to Research and Evaluate Government and Commercial Buildings," the classical Beaux-Arts style dominated public buildings in Alberta in the first three decades of the 20th century. The common examples of this style are the Normal School in Calgary (1906-08), now the McDougall Centre, the Macdonald Hotel and Government House in Edmonton. She notes:

The architectural and historical significance of these two buildings, which were intended to serve as imposing landmarks representing important public and commercial institutions, is easy to recognize.

But architectural significance is not associated exclusively with large public buildings. The small commercial and government buildings that can be found in every community are just as important in preserving an image of the past as are those few outstanding architectural monuments generally found only in larger cities. The post office in High River is a typical example of a small federal building designed by the Department of Public Works in Ottawa. Variations of this design can be found in smaller towns and cities across the country.

Building materials and technology developed with the province and very early on the use of reinforced concrete allowed the development of multi-storey buildings that grace Alberta's cities and towns.