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In the course of our daily reporting, we often uncover unusual projects, places, or connections that don't make the final cut. Instead of keeping it to ourselves, we're pleased to share our Architrivia.
A few blocks east from the site where Edmonton's tallest building is proposed, the three-storey Edwardian-style Hecla Block oozes the neighbourhood's history as a breeding ground for numerous large-scale institutional, commercial and residential buildings. Located along 95 Street in the Boyle community, which had been considered the edge of the city at the time, the 1914-built structure filled a demand for residential accommodation during the construction boom that reshaped the city prior to the First World War.
Considered to be part of Edmonton's first generation of apartment buildings, the Hecla Block provided homes for the city's working class, and was particularly notable for its lack of ground-level commercial space. David Hardie and John Martland were the architects of the L-shaped building, aligning the footprint with the angled grid of what was Syndicate Avenue and Stewart Street. Rather than employing pressed red brick, which had been the predominant type of cladding at the time, the architects chose wire-cut red brick. They also adorned the building with ornamental keystones, stone lintels, rows of stone accents on the second and third floors, and rounded pediments with 'Hecla Block' in relief.
The name of the building has origins in the patriotism of the man who built it. John Johnson, who moved his family to Canada from Iceland, took the 'Hecla' name from Mount Hecla, the largest and most famous volcano on the island country. When it was first constructed, the building contained seven one-bedroom units per floor, with the exception of one bachelor suite on the ground level.
The Molson's Bank foreclosed on the property in 1924, paving the way for the Edmonton Lands Co. to take over ownership for the next 50 years. After cycling through a number of owners, the building was eventually deemed unfit for human habitation in the 1990s. Things fell into a further state of disrepair when a fire ravaged the interior in 1994. Thankfully, the Municipal Historic Resource was faithfully restored and now contains 14 apartment-style condominiums, ensuring the building's residential legacy lives on.
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