Past Vs Present

[Avenuer]

It's a shame the tall, skinny building adjacent to the Union Bank Inn was demoed. It would've provided some neat perspectives along Jasper with that narrow facade.

 

[Daveography]

I adore skinny buildings, my eye was constantly drawn to them when I was in London and Glasgow. It's truly a shame we basically have none left here (I don't count The Edge due to its corner location).

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

That was the Agency Building, at one time purported to be Canada's skinniest 'skyscraper'. It stood at a height of twenty-eight meters and a width of seven. More reading here. Height aside, it dominated the skyline for decades with a brilliant neon sign for Northwestern Utilities that depicted Theia, the goddess of light, silhouetted against a flame, proclaiming "Clean Heat — GAS".

 

[Platinum107]

^That's one of my favorite pictures of old Edmonton, I'd totally buy it from the archives and frame it on my wall (if I remember to haha)

I wish that new res/commercial buildings on other streets in downtown (like in the area west of 104th st. with all the parking lots), at least in some respect, tried the whole "block" style again, mid-rise solid buildings touching walls with each other and corner buildings getting that sick corner treatment!

 

[IanO]

CN Yards

COE Archives

 

[Platinum107]

@IanO That's so awesome! I can never find pictures and clear as that online! You happen to have any of the old train station in downtown?

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

^^ As a correction, that picture's a Provincial Archives one, not a City one.

@IanO That's so awesome! I can never find pictures and clear as that online! You happen to have any of the old train station in downtown?

Here's one of the Canadian National Station, taken in about 1963 if I'm remembering correctly. The photographer is Steve Peirpoint:

I have a conspiracy theory about the neon sign up top. So, C.N. introduced its 'wet noodle' logo in 1960 and our old station was demolished in 1964. That means there was a period of four years that sign could've been up there, at most — probably less if you account for the time it took for the logo to enter widespread use, let alone the production time it took to produce the sign itself. Reasonably, you could guess that it was only around for two to three years. I know C.N. was a huge company, probably with a lot of cash to blow, but it seems a waste to have a sign made then almost immediately trashed, no?

Well, what if it was moved? I have no way to confirm it, by my sneaking suspicion is that this sign was transferred from there to here, the C.N. workshops at the Calder Yard. It's hard to tell from Streetview, but in my estimation the scale between the two is nearly the same:

 

[itom987]

Different sign, the one below is bolder.

 

[Platinum107]

^^ As a correction, that picture's a Provincial Archives one, not a City one.

Here's one of the Canadian National Station, taken in about 1963 if I'm remembering correctly. The photographer is Steve Peirpoint:
View attachment 298174
I have a conspiracy theory about the neon sign up top. So, C.N. introduced its 'wet noodle' logo in 1960 and our old station was demolished in 1964. That means there was a period of four years that sign could've been up there, at most — probably less if you account for the time it took for the logo to enter widespread use, let alone the production time it took to produce the sign itself. Reasonably, you could guess that it was only around for two to three years. I know C.N. was a huge company, probably with a lot of cash to blow, but it seems a waste to have a sign made then almost immediately trashed, no?

Well, what if it was moved? I have no way to confirm it, by my sneaking suspicion is that this sign was transferred from there to here, the C.N. workshops at the Calder Yard. It's hard to tell from Streetview, but in my estimation the scale between the two is nearly the same:
View attachment 298176

Thanks! You have an interesting theory for sure, but either way I'm still sad that they didn't keep that station in downtown. and how now we're stuck with VIA rail's puny outpost station far from the city centre

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

^^Hell, even I referred to it as a “conspiracy theory”, ie. that there’s no proof except my own flimsy conjecture. In fact, there’s some proof to suggest otherwise, including this 1965 aerial. Showing the north face of the shops, it's clear that the sign hadn’t been installed by that point — weird given that a year-and-a-bit is plenty of time to reinstall something.

Again, I could totally being wrong. It's just a dumb hypothesis on my part. But to clarify, one’s not bolder than the other (assuming you mean font bolding). It's just shading, the lower angle, and slightly off-centred capture by the Streetview. If it was bolded the negative space between the C and N would be closer than normal compared to the standard C.N. logo, which they’re not:

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

Thanks! You have an interesting theory for sure, but either way I'm still sad that they didn't keep that station in downtown. and how now we're stuck with VIA rail's puny outpost station far from the city centre

Someone somewhere once described the loss of our downtown stations and their replacement by V.I.A.’s as the transition from “community cornerstone to Corner Gas” and that’s always stuck in my head. It’d never happen given the new infrastructure required, but it’d be amazing to see a proper intermodal train station with connection to the Metro Line as part of the Blatchford redevelopment.

Anyways, downtown’s other lost station, Canadian Pacific’s on the corner of 109th and Jasper. This picture was taken on March 22nd, 1919 when Edmonton’s own 49th Battalion was returning home from overseas service in the Great War:

 

[Platinum107]

I've always kinda wished that we kept at least 1 or 2 tracks going through downtown, one going west to that former rail corridor parallel to 124th st. and one going south to cross the high level. If they did though, I'm sure that our downtown would've developed much differently, and maybe getting rid of the rail helped revitalize downtown to an extent, but still, interesting to look into that parallel universe.

 

[David A]

I've always kinda wished that we kept at least 1 or 2 tracks going through downtown, one going west to that former rail corridor parallel to 124th st. and one going south to cross the high level. If they did though, I'm sure that our downtown would've developed much differently, and maybe getting rid of the rail helped revitalize downtown to an extent, but still, interesting to look into that parallel universe.

Yes, I do think it helped revitalize some parts of downtown, but there minuses as well. For instance, currently a VIA rail station far from downtown. Unlike most larger Canadian cities that kept their downtown rail stations, we are directing this tourist traffic away from downtown and making it more difficult for travelers to access things here. The first impression of Edmonton with a small station in the middle of a not very developed residential/industrial area, not very central or connected to anything is not a good one and travellers have clearly communicated that message in recent years. As with most things that affect the image of our city, it seems like a low priority for our city government to deal with this.

For the future, it may also make developing commuter rail and high speed rail (if that ever happens) more difficult.

 

[archited]

The Canadian National Main Line Spur still exists and terminates adjacent to the west side of the Coliseum building. Several years ago I had sparked the interest of both CN and Greyhound in a transit-themed reuse of the Coliseum with adjacent lands to develop a transportation hub (we called it ERiTH -- Edmonton Regional intermodal Transportation Hub) -- but the City and "City Planning" in all of their (lack of) wisdom pooh-poohed the idea -- musically denoting a clear dumb-de-dumb-dumb response from our short-lived cabal.

 

[CplKlinger]

The Canadian National Main Line Spur still exists and terminates adjacent to the west side of the Coliseum building. Several years ago I had sparked the interest of both CN and Greyhound in a transit-themed reuse of the Coliseum with adjacent lands to develop a transportation hub (we called it ERiTH -- Edmonton Regional intermodal Transportation Hub) -- but the City and "City Planning" in all of their (lack of) wisdom pooh-poohed the idea -- musically denoting a clear dumb-de-dumb-dumb response from our short-lived cabal.

That sounds like a wonderful idea. How long ago was this? Could we contact the city and try to put pressure on them to re-consider something like this, or has that ship sailed?