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In the course of our daily reporting, we often uncover unusual projects, places, or connections that don't make the final cut. Instead of keeping it to ourselves, we're pleased to share our Architrivia.
Situated in front of the former Royal Alberta Museum on a promontory overlooking the North Saskatchewan River, the three-storey Government House owes its prominent location to its historic function as the home of Alberta's Lieutenant Governor. The castle-like mansion of brick and sandstone borrows elements from the Scottish Baronial style of architecture and is extensively decorated with sizeable bay windows, gabled roofs, dormers, balconies, and a general devotion to asymmetry.
In 1909, only four years after Alberta became its own province, the government purchased 29 acres of land in the newly formed district of Glenora for the purposes of constructing a grand residence for the Lieutenant Governor. Allan Merrick Jeffers, chief architect of the Alberta Legislature Building, was tasked with overseeing the realization of the vision developed by R.P. Blakey, who designed the building in the Jacobean Revival style. Its brick walls were sheathed in sandstone sourced from a local quarry and finished by Scottish stonemasons. A glass conservatory for horticulture and a Tudor Revival carriage house were constructed alongside the residence, which including its interior furnishings, cost $350,000.
Lieutenant Governor George Bulyea was the first of his post to live in the residence and initiate the property's long-standing reputation as a hub for social and political life. From its opening in 1913 to 1938, the House served as the primary residence to six lieutenant governors.
With the economic realities of the Great Depression forcing government's the world over to stretch every dollar, the property — increasingly perceived as an unnecessary elitist establishment — came under direct fire from opposition members in the Legislature. After Lieutenant Governor John Campbell Bowen failed to grant Royal Assent to three bills, Premier William Aberhart stepped in and ordered the shuttering of Government House in a political tit for tat in March 1938. The prolonged decision forced Bowen and his family into a hotel suite.
All of the home's furnishings and fixtures were sold in a 1942 auction held by Alberta Public Works. Though some items have been returned to the grounds, a number of them have still not been located. After a brief stint as an office and residential space for airline personnel engaged in transporting aircraft parts to Alaska during the Second World War, the House was leased to the federal government and used as a convalescent hospital for wounded veterans. In 1951, it would purchase the building for $350,000 — the cost of its construction — and operated it as a home for veterans until 1964.
The 1947 Leduc oil discovery and the upcoming centenary of Confederation prompted the province to build a new provincial museum and archives, which opened on December 6, 1967 on the north side of the property as the Provincial Museum of Alberta. The province regained ownership in 1964, moved the building's residents to the new Mewburn Veterans Hospital two years later, and used the venue as a reception centre and place for cabinet meetings.
The Government House underwent extensive renovations in the mid 1970s. The province reaffirmed its commitment to preserving the site with the passage of the Government House Act in 1975, which created the Government House Foundation. Administered with the responsibility of promoting the history and significance of the site, and acquiring artifacts for public display, the Foundation worked towards having the building declared a Provincial Historic Resource in 1985 and a National Historic Site in 2013.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that the tabled legislation Bowen failed to approve concerned the closure of Government House. The controversial bills actually had no connection to the property; the premier's decision to shutter the house was partially a retaliatory response to Bowen's defiance.
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