Feature Article
A NEW WORLD TRADE CENTRE FOR EDMONTON
Written By: Lawrence Herzog
Published By: Real Estate Weekly
Article © Copyright Lawrence Herzog
2003-11-13
Its a grand new undertaking that meshes the rich tradition of achievement from the past with the best in modern thinking. The transformation of the historic Imperial Bank of Canada Building at 9990 Jasper Avenue into a new World Trade Centre serving Edmonton and northern Alberta communities will breathe new life into a historic corner for commerce downtown.
After all, it was on this very corner that the Imperial Bank of Canada, the first bank to come to Edmonton, began operations in 1891. For the next 70 years the bank conducted business at this location at the northeast corner of Jasper Avenue and 100th Street, constructing three buildings and, for a time, even operating out of a Quonset Hut across the avenue - the first such structure to be used for banking anywhere in Canada.
Spearheaded by the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, the $12.5 million project will resurrect the 1952 seven-storey building, which has been sitting empty for three years, its future uncertain. The historic Jasper Avenue landmark will become one of 326 World Trade Centres in 90 different countries around the world. It will serve as Edmontons entry into the World Trade Centre Association and also be the headquarters for the Chamber and Economic Development Edmonton.
With $3.5 million from the federal government, $3.5 million from the province and a $5.5 million contribution from the Chamber, the property has been acquired and design work by Edmonton-based HIP Architects is well underway. The project is aiming for an April opening.
This building played an important role as a centre of commerce in Edmonton"s early years and it"s extremely exciting to see its legacy continue as a one-stop international business centre serving, not just Edmonton, but businesses across the province, says Health Minister and Edmonton MP Anne McLellan. By working in partnership with the community, local industry and government, Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Government of Canada are playing an active role in the revitalization and redevelopment of our urban centres as well as strengthening businesses all across the region.
Mark Norris, Alberta Minister of Economic Development, says the provincial governments Capital Region Caucus was unanimous in its support to secure funding for the ambitious endeavour. This project will add to the revitalization of Edmonton"s downtown, and it will create a focal point for creative and sustained growth efforts that will serve Edmonton and Northern Alberta businesses well.
Norris notes that Edmonton"s business community has already shown itself as an international leader in creating economic growth, and this move to bring so many key players into one place will certainly serve to inspire its continued leadership for years to come. The new WTC Edmonton will be the only World Trade Centre in the prairie provinces and will offer "one-stop" access to a wide range of international business and commercial services.
By virtue of membership within the World Trade Centre Association, we are opening the door for local and northern communities to access business assistance, information, and services that reach, literally, around the world, explains Maureen McCaw, President of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. This new facility speaks very clearly regarding our city"s role as a true business centre of excellence.
Thats going to be the future, but the Chamber is wisely going to get there by understanding the significance of the past for the building and the land on which it resides. The 1891 building was a wooden framed affair, which was replaced in 1908 by an elaborate brick and stone Classical Revival structure, with an elaborate entrance portico supported by giant columns three storeys tall elevated on one-storey plinths.
The scale of the structure, with those columns, its stone staircase and wrought iron entrance doors, dwarfed pedestrians and established a very powerful presence on Jasper Avenue. The building survived until the boom days of the late 1940s, when the Imperial Bank apparently decided a modern structure was in order. And so down it came in the fall of 1950 and the site was prepared for its architectural successor.
The Imperial Bank of Canada opened a branch across Jasper Avenue, in the shadow of the Hotel Macdonald, in the form of a Quonset Hut. The distinctive structure commenced operations July 10, 1950 and was to be used for the next 18 months. Obviously concerned about the impression that this hut location was not secure from burglars, the bank went to great lengths to spread the word that "even scratching a match on its sides would touch off an alarm."
In the meantime, construction of the new branch on the north side of Jasper Avenue was soon underway. Designed by Imperial Bank architect A.J. Everett with the Edmonton firm Rule Wynn and Rule as associate architects, the $950,000 project called for a four-storey structure of structural steel and reinforced concrete.
It was to be clad with white Indiana limestone above a base of black crystal-flaked granite around doors and windows. The building permit issued in January 1951 listed W.C. Wells Construction of Edmonton as the contractor.
But a shortage of structural steel brought by national defence department regulations controlling the supply of structural steel halted construction with just the basement and main floor complete and so the branch officially opened July 20th 1952 as a one-storey building. Flanking the name plates on the south and west upper walls of the bank were bas-relief designs indicating the era of rail and air progress.
The main hall was finished in contrasting dark and light marble with "black gold" marble counters. The east wall was commanded by three photographic murals measuring six feet by ten feet. The images, by renowned Edmonton photographer Alfred Blyth, captured Lower Waterfowl Lake, the Edmonton power house and grain-threshing near Ellerslie.
A newspaper story in July 1952 reported that illumination in the main banking hall was provided by 'soft, natural light from unique ceiling fixtures which can be serviced from the roof space over the banking room." A huge modern vault was situated in the basement, providing room for customer safety deposit boxes and for bank funds and documents.
It wasn't until 1953 that the project resumed and the top stories of what became a seven-storey building were completed in the spring of 1954 at a cost of $1 million. Among the noteworthy design elements are metal spandrels between the windows with the banks logo and the quoins and pilasters stylized as bands of rectangles. Indiana limestone and black granite provide the bank with a sleek geometric silhouette.
That silhouette is what the design wizards at HIP Architects are going to play to great advantage, it seems, and preliminary renderings show a building that is, indeed, hip and stylish while respecting the historical elements that make it so significant. In architectural circles, such designs are called adaptive retrofits and this one promises to be grand and glorious.
If you'd like to offer your thoughts, please drop me an email at lawrenceherzog@hotmail.com
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