Landmark Building
MCLEOD BLOCK
10136 – 100 Street, Edmonton
Designed By: John K. Dow
Built in 1913
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The McLeod Block became an instant Edmonton landmark when it was completed in 1915. The crowning glory of Kenneth McLeod’s career as a businessman and developer, this was the city’s tallest building at the time, a distinction it retained for almost forty years. McLeod came to Edmonton from Ontario in 1891, and by 1913 was successful enough to be able to finance this $600,000 venture. The McLeod Block is a virtual replica of a building which McLeod had seen in Spokane, Washington. He even hired the same man, John K. Dow, to design it. Terra cotta provides detail at the windows, cornice and corners, and matching glazed brick is used as a veneer over the rest of the façade. Perhaps the most eye-catching feature of this memorable building is the cornice with its decorative row of antefixae above, and modillions and polychromed frieze below. The classical vocabulary, so successful in smaller buildings such as the Bank of Commerce was deftly adapted to the larger scale of the highrise McLeod Block. It is now the best remaining example of Edmonton’s skyscraper designs of that period and was designated a Provincial Historical Resource in 1995
The Landmark Buildings and Places Database draws on the series of walking and/or driving tour booklets produced by Alberta Culture (now Alberta Culture and Community Spirit). The Heritage Community Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry through permission to reprint these materials online. Extracted from Historical Walking Tours of Downtown, 2004, Centennial edition of the brochure. Planning and Development Department, City of Edmonton, and Alberta Community Development., 2004, with permission from Alberta Culture and Community Spirit. Visit the Alberta Culture and Community Spirit for more information.