Past Vs Present

[JNO1]

107 Street Lofts (all three buildings)


A couple small buildings on 108 St and 103 Ave

 

[JNO1]

The two before pictures were taken from the old 105 Street overpass looking straight east and west, fall of 1992 I think. It's hard to get the equivalent shots today but I came as close as I was able.
Looking east at arena site.


Looking west at Macewan site.

 

[archited]

Wicked transformation -- someone should take good shots of the CPR yards in Strathcona for the "before" scenario.

 

[Kaizen]

Damn you @archited , lol. I am sure that I have a good photo log of the area, but will have to dig threw a 1,000 or so pic's.
A few pis's from Scona North of the CPR golden acres.

 

[archited]

Close but no...

 

[Kaizen]

CP Rail Yard Old Strathcona 2019

 

[archited]

Great pictorial essay @Kaizen! Now we are ready to see what comes of this land.

 

[Daveography]

View attachment 203033View attachment 203034

My future brewpub & meadery

 

[archited]

Go fer it @Daveography -- may I suggest that you name it after your Chinchilla?

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

My future brewpub & meadery

I sure hope something cool happens to it — I think it would be neat to see the Edmonton Radial Railway Society run its track down to it and use it as a new museum space, given how small their current one is. Its the last (partially) remaining roundhouse left in the city, and one of only three left in the province. It was originally built in 1907 as a six-stall house, but another six were added in 1913. Sometime around 1985 all but three stalls and the machine shop/ boiler room were demolished. Here's an aerial photo of it from 1950.

Speaking of the C.P.R., here's a depressing past vs. present; the bastardized remains of their former H.Q. on Jasper Avenue.

...and the original building;

Constructed in 1912, the building served as the C.P.R.'s Edmonton headquarters. Designed by Winnipeg architect William Wallace Blair, it featured an impressive 100 foot frontage and was Western Canada's first steel reinforced concrete building. Initially designed as an elaborate ten storey structure, it would be reduced part way through construction. Even still, it cost the Railway over $400,000 to complete. Featuring terra cotta, granite, ornate relief panels, and Bedford stone pillars, the building was one of the city's most impressive upon its completion in February 1913.

In 1992 it was purchased by Hong Kong businessman Lin Hop Lee, who quickly announced his intent to demolish it. Lee's project architect, Doug McConnell, described preservation of the building as "not feasible, in a business or construction sense." The issue was contentious and eventually brought to city council. Demolition was reluctantly permitted at a vote of eight to three, on the condition that some historic elements were to be retained. Lee agreed but called the 'preservation' a "waste of time."

In late 1992 the old C.P.R. tower finally came down. The small two storey building that replaced it was occupied by Hop's Handbags, Lee's high end accessory store; it only lasted for three years before going under.

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

Another then and now, showing just how much 101 Street and 102 Avenue has changed in the last 70 years;

The same angle today (well, 2018) is somewhat less inspiring.

101st has been the epicentre of downtown since time immemorial, but in the 1940's it came into its own. By 1940, Eaton’s, Woodward’s, Zeller’s, Woolworth’s, Metropolitan’s, and Kresge’s were all located along it and solidified the street as Edmonton's department store row. Streetcars — and trolleybuses beginning in 1939 — ferried shoppers to and fro, and the intersection at 102nd Avenue would gain the city’s first scramble intersection to meet demand. The architecture was grand, and it was remarkably urban for a city of only 91,000.

This picture, probably from around 1945, features some of the street’s most iconic buildings. From left to right they include;

• The Woodward’s Department Store:
  
  • Architect: David Hardie
  • Built: 1926, with major additions in 1929, 1931 and 1940/41
  • Demolished: 1974, to make room for Woodward’s Edmonton Centre Mall project.
• The Tegler Building
  
  • Architects: Magoon & MacDonald
  • Constructed: 1911, with major southern addition — with the balconette — in 1913
  • Demolished: 1982, to make room for BMO’s new bank.
    • The story behind its demolition is tragic, and I’ve covered it here if anyone is interested to know. The TLDR is basically that BMO strong armed City Council through blackmail and threats, getting them to rescind their planned heritage designation, despite objections from the public at large, and over the worries of urban planners who were concerned over the bank’s proposed monolithic design.
• The Moser-Ryder Block
  
  • Architects: Magoon & MacDonald, with later modifications by R.H. Gillingham
  • Constructed: 1911, with a complete facade alteration in 1944
  • Demolished: 2014 to make way for Enbridge Centre. Its younger neighbours the Kelly and Ramsey Blocks were salvaged, but the Moser-Ryder Block was not, despite being one of the city’s premier remaining examples of the Art Moderne style. A ‘homage’ to it now exists on the north-east side of the tower housing BMO.
• Metropolitan Store
  
  • Architect: Unknown (Perhaps William Sutherland)
  • Constructed: 1929
  • Demolished: circa 1989
• S.S. Kresges ‘Five and Dime’ Store (with the rounded corner)
  
  • Architects: Northwood & Chivers of Winnipeg
  • Constructed: 1938
  • Demolished 1978 for the Scotia Place development.

 

[KyleBlanchett]

If anyone has gone down St Albert Trail near the yellowhead you will see our large pylon sign outside of our office and shop. This pylon has been standing for 54 years and hopefully 54 more!
1965-2019

 

[KyleBlanchett]

The old Saxony Motel Inn on Stony Plain Road

 

[KyleBlanchett]

Capitol Theater

 

[KyleBlanchett]

These pictures were all taken by my Great grandfather back in 1920. I do not know where most of these pictures were taken all I know is that they were in Edmonton.