Unbuilt Projects

[.crystalised.]

I'm glad others are enjoying these old newspaper pictures. I have a bunch more to post - need to spend some time dusting off some of those old newspaper articles and then with my scanner over the next little while. In the meantime here are a few more:
A mixed use tower planned for that parking lot on the southeast corner of Jasper and 99 St, immediately west of the Convention Center main entrance. 14 storey hotel (213 rooms) with a 23 storey office building above (134.5 meters high in total). Three landscaped rooftop terraces. Mid 1980s. Cool design.
View attachment 243953

Cool design, but maybe it would've gotten old fast? Still have mixed feelings about this one. The "tribble" trees in the render have always made me chuckle.

 

[.crystalised.]

An 18 storey office building on the parking lot on 101 St immediately east of the City Tower.
View attachment 243955

We need that hole filled too.

 

[.crystalised.]

A 14 storey office building on the southwest corner of Jasper and 106 Street.

View attachment 243957

It's like ING and Energy Square had a baby!

 

[.crystalised.]

Call me crazy (and I know I'll probably be in the minority here) but I'd love to see a tower, or hell, even some kind of decent mid-rise built on Telus Plaza someday in a far off future where downtown's densified a bit more and viable lots have began to run out. The break in the street wall's always felt super weird to me and the urban feel of the whole block has been made worse with the small First and Jasper project.

Totally agree. I feel the break in the urban wall whenever I walk or drive past Telus Plaza. I really hope we get the lot filled immediately west of the Convention Centre as well, where that tribble tower was supposed to go. And I really hope 9955 Jasper proceeds. The most prominent side of our CBD feels "unfinished".

Ultimately, the [Edmonton Journal] threatened to pull out of downtown for the suburbs in the late '80s when the core was really struggling and the City allowed them to go with their preferred plan in the name of revitalization (how much their current building helps the street is up for debate). Only a small part of the original facade was retained and is awfully mangled and contorted within the PoMo glass atrium of the 'new' building.

Interesting, thanks. I've never known the history of how that Journal building came to be. I've always had mixed feelings about what we have today. While I am happy our paper remains headquartered downtown, I truly hope that someday the building can be demolished for something nice and tall in that spot, once we've used up our surface lots. It would be so striking to come up around the corner of Bellamy Hill to reveal something tall there.

This design is a little more on-the-nose English than what got built and still stands.

I wish we had more on-the-nose English architecture in this city. The carriage house at Government House is one of my favourites, and I wish there was a lot more.

Above, is an early draft of the, now former, Royal Bank of Canada Tower. The finned elements on the tower itself were ultimately stripped away before construction began.

Even the early draft called for an unnecessarily large podium and a squat tower. Weird. It's a waste of space on a prominent corner and the size of the podium only draws more attention to the short tower, as if to say "good enough for Edmonton".

And finally, perhaps the saddest of the mid-century unbuilts, especially for a Modernism lover like myself. This was to be the completed plan for the Edmonton Public School Board's new Administration Building on the northeast corner of 101st Street and 107A Avenue. All that stands today is the two storey podium. Any University students or alumni will immediately see a striking resemblance to the Students Union Building on campus — fitting given it was designed by the same firm, Richards, Berretti & Jelinek, at basically the same time.

Are you a fan of the Seagram Building in NYC? I'd love for something like that to have been constructed in Edmonton, especially at 107 Avenue so that it stands out and acts as a sort of gateway to the CBD.

 

[cpnfantstk]

Yes, great stuff @_Citizen_Dane_ . Totally agree with you on St. Joseph's.
In respect of the Journal building and site, here are a couple newspaper pictures/articles on a blockbuster for the whole block where the Journal and Royal Bank Buildings currently are (between 101/ 102 Streets and Jasper Ave /MacDonald Drive). The Royal Center - a mixed use (office, hotel, retail) development of three towers (40, 31 and 25 storeys). This would have been 1981/1982 ish. The old Journal building was to be torn down with this proposal and a small clock tower at the corner of 101 St and MacDonald Drive was to be built out of the salvaged red bricks.
The one on the left is a view looking almost directly south, Jasper Ave in the foreground. The one on the right is a view looking northeast.

View attachment 244209View attachment 244210

So this had nothing to do with the Triple 5 proposal?

 

[.crystalised.]

Now, I love the current Basilica. Its sanctuary is probably one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring places in the entire city and its this super, super cool and masterful hybrid of modern and traditional design elements that my inner armchair architect loves... but man, this one always feels like such a missed opportunity.

Agreed, Neo-Gothic really suits Edmonton. But I'm not mad with how it ended up. The Florentine-esque design is really cool and there's beauty and nobility in its understated charm.

 

[.crystalised.]

Yes, great stuff @_Citizen_Dane_ . Totally agree with you on St. Joseph's.
In respect of the Journal building and site, here are a couple newspaper pictures/articles on a blockbuster for the whole block where the Journal and Royal Bank Buildings currently are (between 101/ 102 Streets and Jasper Ave /MacDonald Drive). The Royal Center - a mixed use (office, hotel, retail) development of three towers (40, 31 and 25 storeys). This would have been 1981/1982 ish. The old Journal building was to be torn down with this proposal and a small clock tower at the corner of 101 St and MacDonald Drive was to be built out of the salvaged red bricks.
The one on the left is a view looking almost directly south, Jasper Ave in the foreground. The one on the right is a view looking northeast.

What a shame. That's the southern end of our commercial street and the most suitable place for a blockbuster, even now. Call me crazy, but does anyone else hate that little makeshift park directly west of the RBC Building? It's such a waste of space in the CBD and just screams "office vacancies in Edmonton".

 

[.crystalised.]

A busier airport isn't the be-all, end-all.

True, but it does irk me that YYC has been far more competitive when it comes to winning international flights. It's like everybody forgets how important aviation was in Edmonton and still should be, and what a strategic staging point YXD was during the second world war. I don't buy the argument that the reason is because Calgary is further south and/or closer to mountains. It's only 23 minutes farther to Edmonton in a modern jet. Things have the potential to change but it'll have to start with us winning more cargo and distribution logistics, then passenger travel will follow.

Keep working on stopping that Calgary habit, y'all. Take direct flights whenever possible, or transfer elsewhere.

 

[Foolworm]

True, but it does irk me that YYC has been far more competitive when it comes to winning international flights. It's like everybody forgets how important aviation was in Edmonton and still should be, and what a strategic staging point YXD was during the second world war. I don't buy the argument that the reason is because Calgary is further south and/or closer to mountains. It's only 23 minutes farther to Edmonton in a modern jet. Things have the potential to change but it'll have to start with us winning more cargo and distribution logistics, then passenger travel will follow.

Keep working on stopping that Calgary habit, y'all. Take direct flights whenever possible, or transfer elsewhere.

It's more to do with the fact that Calgary has historically been headquarter to Canada's 'second' carrier, whether it was Canadian Airlines or Westjet. That's why it's important that YEG has an airline to call its own, and hopefully Flair Air will grow into the role.

 

[.crystalised.]

It's more to do with the fact that Calgary has historically been headquarter to Canada's 'second' carrier, whether it was Canadian Airlines or Westjet. That's why it's important that YEG has an airline to call its own, and hopefully Flair Air will grow into the role.

Glad you mentioned Flair - I only just found out yesterday that we're a focus city for them, while I was reading YEG's Wikipedia article.

 

[JNO1]

So this had nothing to do with the Triple 5 proposal?

Are you asking about a Triple 5 proposal with respect to this Royal Bank/Journal site? If so. I wasn't aware that Triple 5 ever proposed anything for this site. Or are you asking about another Triple 5 proposal (e.g. Eaton Center)?

 

[cpnfantstk]

Are you asking about a Triple 5 proposal with respect to this Royal Bank/Journal site? If so. I wasn't aware that Triple 5 ever proposed anything for this site. Or are you asking about another Triple 5 proposal (e.g. Eaton Center)?

It was the Eaton Center. The three tower proposal. I thought one of the towers was going to be an RBC building. I was a teenager at the time but I was ticked off that the proposal ended up with none of the towers being built.
Same goes for the Commerce Place proposed second taller tower cancellation. It was like a force field was in the city for those nearly 3 decades not to have anything built downtown. Thank God for the past five+ years.

 

[JNO1]

Yes I too was a teenager at that time and ticked off as well. Eaton Center was quite the saga spread over a number of years and with at least 4 different concepts with some combination of retail, hotel, office and recreational amenities. I guess we ended up with the retail and hotel, although a much smaller hotel than was planned. Here are the four different concepts that I was aware of (and there may have been more).

#1. July 1980 - Two 50 story residential towers and two 40 storey office buildings (there may have been a hotel as well)

#2. 1982/83 - two 50 storey residential towers, two 40 storey office towers and a hotel

#3. August 1985 - one 40 storey residential/hotel tower and a 40 storey office building

#4. And last but not least, this would have been in 1986/87.

 

[cpnfantstk]

@JNO1 Fantastic posts. Shame it never happened. I read a story about it. City council kept giving concessions and the developer kept cutting back on the project. Not sure of the accuracy of the whole story. Would of loved #2 or #4 though..

 

[cpnfantstk]

I have a strong feeling that the 21st century is Edmonton's turn, especially if we take the lead on economic diversification (as we should).

TOURISM
We can be a tourist destination if certain things are done right and some will take years to complete.
1) Klondike Days could be a 2 week long festival full of costumes, parades, parties, booze and naughtiness down old Strathcona just like in New Orleans but with a gold rush theme. Make it nationally known as Canada's Mardi Gras.
2) Our river valley and ravine are gorgeous. Trails of beautiful nature. Our central park.
3) Steamboats taking guests out on our River during the summer. When the water is the least murky .
4) Jasper avenue revitalization project will spruce up our main street. More shopping, cafes, more people. More towers. More residents.
5) Elk Island National Park. Promote and improve it. Buses from downtown to the park during a stretch of summer. The wildlife.. amazing.. star gazing
6) Prairie Sky Gondolas over the river valley and the High Level Bridge plan for a park above it in addition to the streetcar crossing .
7) Promote Edmonton as the gateway to the beauty of Jasper National Park. Inexpensive packages for buses to and from, lodging , the icefields. Inexpensive train tickets to and from. Long term - high speed train or an alternative highway that was once proposed. (Shaves an hour off the travel time)
8) Our festivals. Make them bigger and better. Food,Fringe, Blues, Jazz
9) Gardens in Devon - expand- our Buttchart - Chartered buses to and from downtown.
10) RAM, Art Gallery , Citadel, Winspear. Make a package to experience them all.
11) WEM but renovate the exterior first. So much there. Amusement Park etc.
12) Fort Edmonton
So many more ideas. People will want to experience our best. We have to work and build on our strengths.
The potential is there and it can be done.
Long post and I can move to a more appropriate thread.