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Some familiar local landmarks share frontage with 100 Street and 102 Avenue NW in the downtown core. The Edmonton City Centre mall stands kitty-corner to the Stanley A. Milner Library, which sits across from Churchill Square. Despite the prominence of the intersection, the southwest corner is occupied by a stout building most Edmontonians are probably unaccustomed to, yet predates its more well-known neighbours.
City architect Maxell Dewar designed the two-and-a-half-storey polished black granite and terrazzo Churchill Wire Centre and adorned it with glass block and other Art Deco embellishments in 1947. A rare example of Stripped Classicism, a branch of the Moderne style of architecture, the building became an influential force in the development of the civic structures surrounding Churchill Square.
Like other structures adopting elements of Art Deco architecture, the building features an engraving of a figure that embodied a specific message wished to be conveyed by the owner. In this case, the chamfered corner entrance wall depicts a God-like character holding lightning bolts and cables, meant to evoke the development of communication technology.
The Churchill Wire Centre was built for the now-defunct company Edmonton Telephones, who stored the switching equipment here that provided telephone service to the city. These bulky appliances needed plenty of room to breathe, so the ceilings were exceptionally tall.
Fuelled by a growing population seeking access to the network, the operation would physically expand when a four-storey addition to the west was completed in 1958. At its peak, the property saw 12 switchmen and two-dozen operators managing the building's extensive equipment. The building was vacated in 1984 and later converted to residential use before hosting a National Bank, which is the current primary occupant of the space.
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