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The first hotel in the Town of Strathcona was also the largest in the region, and today, remains one of the only surviving fragments of 19th century architecture on Whyte Avenue. Simply known as the Strathcona Hotel, the venerable building serviced the growing demand for accommodations that arose after the 1891 completion of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway. The 45-room hotel, built in the same year, quickly evolved into a neighbourhood fixture.
The popularity of the hotel sparked its owners into building a two-storey annex in 1903, subsequently followed by a three-storey addition to the north in 1907. Like most hotels in the early 20th century, the business depended on profits from the on-site tavern as a secondary stream of revenue. When prohibition hit Alberta in 1916, the hotel struggled financially. The Presbyterian Church of Canada took over operations and used the building as the Westminster Ladies College from 1918 to 1924 and later the Westminster Residence for Girls.
The Presbyterian Church sold the building to private investors in 1928. With the repeal of prohibition in 1923, the hotel business proved lucrative again, and the building was restored to its original roots by 1929. Today, the hotel continues to anchor the corner of Gateway Boulevard and Whyte Avenue, and is recognized as the oldest surviving wood frame commercial building on the stretch.
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