Edmonton's 1914 apartments
by Lawrence Herzog
It's Our Heritage | Vol. 27 No. 6 | February 12, 2009
Annamoe Mansion. File Photo
When the Hudson’s Bay Company placed a good portion of its considerable Edmonton land holdings on the market on May 12, 1912, it triggered a real estate frenzy. The flood of more than 1,500 lots answered a pent-up boom-time demand, and over the next year, more than 500 building permits were issued in the rapidly growing city.
But the good times were not to last. By the middle of 1913, money markets were collapsing and, as boom went bust, the city was pulled into a recession that lasted through the First World War and into the 1920s.
As the city’s population increased rapidly through the boom, demand for rooming houses, apartments and suites also rose, and many of the buildings started in 1913 were some of Edmonton’s first. Even as the real estate market began to collapse, savvy entrepreneurs saw the opportunity.
Here’s a look at four apartments started and/or completed in Edmonton in 1914.
Lambton Block, 11035 97 Street
The Lambton Block was built by a prominent Edmonton lawyer and politician and designed by a prominent Edmonton architect, but neither of their names were Lambton. Construction on the three-storey building began during the summer of 1914, with a building permit for $25,000 issued June 23rd to politician John Robert Boyle, who named it for his home county of Lambton in Ontario. The lot on which it was to be built, on the corner of what was then Namayo Avenue and Thompson Avenue, was an irregularly shaped chunk of land. To overcome the constraints of the site, Edmonton architect Roland Lines came up with a six- sided structure. The building featured four stores on the main level and two dozen apartment suites on the top floors.
Interior adornments included gleaming hardwood floors and trim, wood spindled stairway and bannisters, transom windows over suite entry doors and four skylights on the top floor. There were bachelor and one-bedroom suites, some with fireplaces and bathrooms and some without. Common ladies' and gentlemen's bathrooms were found on each floor.
Early tenants included many doctors and nurses, who worked at the nearby Royal Alexandra Hospital, which had opened in 1911. In 1928 and 1929, the top floor of the Lambton Block became the Nurses Home for the hospital, until the large new Nurses Home opened at the hospital itself at the end of 1929. The Lambton Block was declared a Municipal Historic Resource in 2003.
The Annamoe Mansion, 11950 100 Avenue
Robert Childers Barton named the apartment building he constructed in 1914 after the town in County Wicklow, Ireland, where he was born. The front of the building was oriented to face the North Saskatchewan River valley, and Barton apparently insisted on large windows to take advantage of the views.
A variety of bricklaying patterns is used on the front of the three-story red brick building, creating a textured, two-dimensional effect. Stone accents are used for variety in the brick and both the window frames and balconies with their supporting brackets are painted white. It's not clear who designed the Annamoe; standard blueprints, modified by the builder, may have been used.
Derwas Court, 10146 121 Street
The Derwas Court apartment building was designed by Edmonton architect Edward Collis Hopkins. The three-story building is set in a rectangular plan and has a red brick facade, punctuated by symmetrical architectural details.
The main facade is divided into five bays by brick pilasters and contrasting windows sills, with keystone treatments above each window. The entrance vestibule has a set of double doors with a fanlight above, all contained within an arch with a contrasting keystone and voussoirs.
There are four suites on each floor and all feature a fireplace in the living room, a formal dining room, a balcony and a single bedroom. The cozy kitchens and bathrooms are illuminated by light shafts.
Parkview Apartments, 10612 97 Avenue
Constructed as the first apartment building in the River Flats area, the Parkview Apartments quickly became the preferred address for government workers at the adjacent Legislative Buildings. The Edwardian-influenced building, designed by Edmonton architects and builders Richard Foote and Nathaniel Purcell, offered its tenants lavish simplicity, excellent light penetration and air flow.
In 1920, John Kenwood and Frank Kentwood purchased the building, and they were to own it until 1962. Kenwood was director of the Edmonton Exhibition Association and founder of Kenwood and Candy, a real estate firm that dealt in some of the earliest city properties. The Parkview Apartments was designated Municipal Historic Resource by the city in 2002.
Hecla Block, 10141 95 Street
John Johnson was an immigrant from Skagafirde, Iceland and when he built his block, he named it with his homeland in mind. Mount Hecla is Iceland's largest and best-known volcano and in Icelandic, Hecla means cape.
Application for a building permit was made on May 29, 1914, and the permit for work valued at $40,000 was issued the same day. The design, by Edmonton architects David Hardie and John Martland, tends towards Edwardian Classicism or classic revival. Its double facades are topped with a parapet that contains the inscription "Hecla Block" and it boasts rounded pediments, tapestry brick facing, ornamental keystones over windows and stone accents.
Behind the facades were 21 suites on three storeys, most of them containing a living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, a small closet, and a lavatory with a toilet and sink. Two common bathtubs and one shower were accessed from the corridor on each floor. A series of light and ventilation shafts served the washrooms and bathrooms. To accommodate the oblique angle between the two streets, the building was shaped somewhat like a slanted letter ‘J' and many rooms were trapezoidal in shape.
When fire swept through the Hecla Block early the morning of May 15th, 1994, it appeared that the three-storey apartment's 80 years of life might well be at an end. Then, five years later, real estate appraiser Frank Bowen bought the property and began a bold resuscitation.
Today it contains 14 condominium apartments and has helped propel a revitalization of the community it has called home since 1914. In recognition of its historical significance, the Hecla Block has been declared a Municipal Historic Resource.
Next week: Edmonton's Second Wave of Downtown Apartments
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