The Strathcona Public Building, Old Strathcona Post Office, South Side Post Office or South Edmonton Post Office is restored heritage building in Strathcona Square in the Old Strathcona heritage district of
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...
. The restored building along with a Festival Market was opened to the public on the first weekend of September 1988 and the place came to be known as Strathcona Square.
History
The building was constructed between 1911 and 1913, during a massive building boom in the Edmonton area, and at the same time that the city of Strathcona, Alberta (also called South Edmonton) was being merged into the city of Edmonton. It was designed by
David Ewart
David Ewart, ISO (18 February 1841 – 6 June 1921) was a Canadian architect who served as Chief Dominion Architect from 1896 to 1914.
As chief government architect he was responsible for many of the federal buildings constructed in this peri ...
, the Chief Architect of the
Canadian Department of Public Works
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC; french: Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada)''Public Services and Procurement Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Public Works ...
in an
Edwardian
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
Free
Free may refer to:
Concept
* Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything
* Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism
* Emancipate, to procur ...
style. The building originally served as a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
and general federal government office building. The building's neat brick and limestone finishing was a remarkable departure from the typical Romanesque style used in earlier post office buildings. Following this newer aesthetic principles, the original tower was found to be short in height, and was replaced by one ten feet taller in 1914-1915.
Next to the grain terminal, the Old Strathcona Post Office clock tower stood as the second tallest structure on the south side of Edmonton for many years. Old Strathcona is a five (5) block area on 82 Avenue (Whyte Avenue), at the south side of Edmonton, Alberta, about 2 miles from the
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...
. The Old Strathcona Post Office was the first major restoration project undertaken in Edmonton's historic Old Strathcona area. The Old Strathcona Post Office when first restored was modelled after Festival Market development undertaken by the Rouse Corporation in the United States, and Boston's Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall in particular. In 1977
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
abandoned the Old Strathcona Post Office. The building was placed on the Province of Alberta's register of ''Grade A'' Provincial Historic Resources on February 12, 1985. The building sat empty until January 1986 when the City of Edmonton took ownership of the Old Strathcona Post Office for the sum of $1.00.
The building is very similar to the former post office in Regina, which was designed by the same architect.
Restoration
The City of Edmonton transferred ownership of the building for $1.00 to the Clarion Hospitality Group, a group of companies wholly owned by Albert and Irene Hansen. Then Federal Member of Parliament, Jim Edwards orchestrated $400,000 in Federal grant monies to assist the restoration. Albert and Barrie Hansen negotiated a $2.0 million loan from Terry Semeniuk, an Edmonton main branch manager at government owned bank, the Province of Alberta Treasury Branch (“ATB”). Clarion initially sought to convert the Old Strathcona Post Office into three restaurants or pubs, to complement Clarion's growing Western Canadian hotel portfolio. However, Terry Semeniuk opposed this plan and would only finance the project if Clarion agreed to rent out the building as a Retail Market.
Albert Hansen
Albert Hansen (December 13, 1871 – 1943) was an American college football player, coach, and politician.Stantec).
The building opened to the public on Labour Day weekend, in September 1988. Doug Enders at Royal Park Realty had the exclusive right to lease out the building. Three months prior to completion, it became clear that Mr. Enders had not leased any of the building. Barrie Hansen then undertook to lease out the building.
Ownership and maintenance
the building has been divided into a number of restaurants and bars. The top floor is ''The Billiard Club'', a pool hall. Since the early 1990s the middle floor has been home to ''Chianti Cafe'', which serves Italian food, and is part of a chain based in Calgary and established in 1984. The basement floor hosts ''Squires Pub'', a lounge/ nightclub.
Tenants at opening included Eric's Framing, Silver Treasures, Bustamante's, Toys Galore, Kringles, Croissant Creations, Macdonald's Coffee, Daisy's Deli and Incredible Edibles. The owner of Incredible Edibles disappeared one week prior to opening. A few months later, Chianti Café, then with two stores in Calgary, took over the Incredible Edibles space on the ground floor. Chianti Café was an instant success, and today occupies nearly the entire ground floor. The clock and the clock mechanism, originally crafted by Midland Clockworks of the UK, had not worked since before the building was abandoned by the Canadian government in 1977. Clarion shipped the clockworks to Smith of Derby in England, where the clock mechanism was reconditioned and recalibrated so that it could be located on the floor of the second story of the building, enclosed in glass, thereby making the clockworks and the inside of the clock tower open to the public, and a unique tourist attraction.
IN 1989, when the Founder of When Pigs Fly, approached Clarion to open their retail store in the Old Strathcona Post Office, the building was fully occupied, so the store opened across Whyte Avenue on the opposite corner of 105th Avenue. The Old Strathcona Post Office became the impetus for the restoration and rejuvenation of Old Strathcona, what is today one of the most liveable areas in Edmonton Alberta.
As the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates from 1988 through 1990, the Province of Alberta Treasury Branch pressured Clarion to sell the Old Strathcona Post Office to cover mounting losses from hotels in oil dependent towns where Clarion owned hotel properties. This despite never missing a payment or even coming close to default.
A few years later, Terry Semeniuk, the senior person for the Province of
Alberta Treasury Branch
ATB Financial is a financial institution and Crown corporation wholly owned by the province of Alberta, the only province in Canada with such a financial institution under its exclusive ownership.
Originally established as Alberta Treasury Br ...
was charged with taking a Secret Commission because he would pressure his bank clients to sell properties to other Treasury Branch customers who coveted that particular assets. Semeniuk was the subject of, and referenced in several criminal proceedings in the Province of Alberta.R. v. Leroux, 2000 CanLII 28274 (AB QB) at para. 39 This was true of the Old Strathcona Post Office. The Province of Alberta Treasury Branch have made no overtures about restoring the Hansen family property.