Before the swirling aurora borealis-inspired Art Gallery of Alberta arrived at the corner of 99 Street and 102 Avenue in 2009, a Brutalist structure designed by the architectural firm Bittorf-Wensley occupied the property. The unorthodox current building represents the climax of the institution's evolution from the penniless Edmonton Art Club to the venerable provincial landmark it is today.
Founded in 1920, the Edmonton Art Club initially had no collection, funds or home. It held its inaugural annual show in April 1923 and soon afterwards partnered with the Local Council of Women and the Art Association to amass a permanent art collection for the city. With that necessary support, the Edmonton Museum of Art was born in 1925 and renamed 31 years later to the Edmonton Art Gallery.
After residing in a variety of locations, including the old Edmonton Public Library and the historic Secord House, a $600,000 gift from Dr. William Newton and Abigail Edith Condell would make a new facility a reality. The City contributed the land and additional grant money to the cause. It opened in 1969 as the Arthur Blow Condell Memorial Building, honouring the couple's son, who died at age five in 1910. Quintessentially Brutalist in style, original architect Don Bittorf was invited back in 1978 to add more gallery space.
By the 1990s, it became clear that the outdated gallery space needed to be overhauled. Los Angeles architect Randall Stout won an architectural competition in 2005 to design the new gallery, which then went through another rebranding, finally calling itself the Art Gallery of Alberta. The majority of the Bittorf building was demolished in 2007, though some portions of the structure were integrated into the rectilinear, stacked rock 'insukshuk' elements of the new facility.
Transparent glass and reflective metal surfaces lend a sculptural Gehryesque quality to the overall design, which is heavily influenced by regional geography. Inside, the museum's public spaces are defined by an undulating stainless steel vernacular that allows natural light to enter.
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