Fidelity Building: 38 storey office building on south side of Jasper Ave on the site of the current Telus plaza and Union Bank Inn; would have been the head office of PFC (Pocklington Financial Corporation); 146 meters high, 500k sq ft of office space; landscaped rooftop terrace; would have retained the facade of the Union Bank Inn.
View attachment 243752View attachment 243753
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.
Anyways, a concept and some, perhaps more accurately described "differently built," unbuilt projects:
Above is an architectural concept for a new
Edmonton Journal building. Long story short, there was quite a lot of debate about the
Journal building a new home — one camp, made up of Joe Citizen, The Society for the Protection of Architectural Resources in Edmonton, and the City itself, wanted the paper to preserve the facades of the original, beautiful William Blakey designed
Journal Building, while the other camp, basically the
Journal all by its lonesome, wanted it demolished. The proposal above was a City idea to try and make a viable compromise. Ultimately, the paper 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.
Above is an early concept for the Glenora School by the amazing firm Rule, Wynn & Rule. From my write up: "Founded in 1938 by two recent University of Alberta graduates and friends, John Rule and Gordon Wynn, they were soon joined by John’s brother and University graduate, Peter, in 1940. At ages thirty-six, thirty, and twenty-seven respectively, it was among one of the youngest by age in the city and the trio fully embraced the ethos of Modernism and the Art Deco movements, as their works just prior to and concurrent to their design of Glenora confirms, including the Dreamland and Varscona Theatres. However, for their school commission they were forced to take a more traditional design approach, as G.A. McKee, Supervisor of Schools, requested the building be designed in the Tudor Style to blend in with the orthodox surroundings of the neighbourhood." This design is a little more on-the-nose English than what got built and still stands.
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.
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.
