The Kelly Ramsey Building was a historic building located in

Downtown Edmonton Downtown Edmonton is the central business district of Edmonton, Alberta. Located at the geographical centre of the city, the downtown area is bounded by 109 Street to the west, 105 Avenue to the north, 97 Street to the east, 97 Avenue and Rossdale ...

at 10040 101A Avenue on Rice Howard Way.

History

James Ramsey was a department store owner who opened up a store in the Tegler Building (to the north of the Kelly Ramsey Building). Shortly after moving to Edmonton in 1911, he required more space and moved into the building which was built by a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

John Kelly. Not long after Kelly's death Ramsey bought the building from his widow in 1926 for $100,000. He then extended the story westward calling it the Ramsey Building. In the 1940s the Government of Alberta bought the building. More recently, it had been owned by Worthington Properties. In March 2009 a fire broke out and gutted most of the building. Police determined it was caused by

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

and on April 2 a man was arrested for the fire. In September 2009, the

Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta The Court of King's Bench of Alberta (abbreviated in citations as ABKB or Alta. K.B.) is the superior trial court of the Canadian province of Alberta. During the reign of Elizabeth II, it was named Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. The Court w ...

ordered a judicial sale of the building due to

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

for $3 million, down from its previous price of $10 million. In 2013 the building was demolished, to be replaced by Enbridge Centre. Enbridge Centre is a 25-storey office building, which recreated the original building facades on the tower's podium. The tower was completed in late 2016 and opened on October 13, 2016, with the original facade incorporated into the new building.

Architecture

The building was two four-story, brick and steel frame buildings. The Ramsey portion was an addition to the Kelly Block. The two buildings were quite different. The Kelly Block was done in dark brick and the Ramsey Building had a stone facade, three-part windows, and a smaller cornice.

References

{{Edmonton landmarks 1927 establishments in Alberta 2000s fires in North America 2009 fires 2013 disestablishments in Alberta Buildings and structures in Edmonton Buildings and structures demolished in 2013 Buildings and structures in Canada destroyed by arson Chicago school architecture in Canada Commercial buildings completed in 1927 Demolished buildings and structures in Alberta Office buildings in Canada