Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village

It took forever - just over 6 months from my trip to collect the photos to uploading the final model - but it's finally complete. And it turned out pretty well:




A total of 22 models, with lots of neat stuff including a few churches:




A wide variety of houses:



And my first (and likely last) grain elevator:

Gibson Block

Model and Building information

Edmonton's own flat iron building, complete with a painted sign that's almost enough to get me drinking Pepsi:



The model itself is just okay. I've mentioned patchwork buildings before, and this one has some of that with the entrance and the north side just not quite working out.

Tegler Building (1911-1982)

Model and Building information

My 150th model, and to mark that occasion we have the Tegler Building. This completes my personal trinity of Edmonton's lost buildings, along with the Library and the Courthouse.

I think that for many Edmontonians the Tegler also serves somewhat as the one-that-got-away - given historical designation only to have it taken away again; and imploded only to be replaced by a bland and rather lame piece of post-modernism. Looking at it today makes me realize what the intersection of 101 Street and 102 Avenue once have must been, particularly at street level. How different would 101 Street or Rice Howard Way feel if they were still lined with those storefronts today?

The model reuses textures from all the usual suspects - the Buena Vista, CIBC and Bowker - along with a colourized version of Tegler's lower floors. I really like how it turned out, and when I set out to model some of Edmonton's lost buildings this was exactly what I was aiming for.

Government House

Model and Building information

Sometimes the process of creating a model helps me to better appreciate a building. Other times, it has the opposite effect.

Government House is definitely a nice building, and the sandstone is a gorgeous material just like it is on the Legislature. But sixteen columns? Is that necessary? Two wouldn't have been enough? And are all those different types and sizes of windows really required? Not just the ones that are two panes wide, or the ones that are three panes wide, but also those two at the back that are four panes wide and a totally different shape (and which I skipped).

The model turned out really well, but it was a bit annoying to make.

Leamington Mansions

Model and Building information

I think I'm going to have to name this one "Edmonton's Forgotten Building." I'm sure that many people know about it tucked away just off Jasper Avenue, but it doesn't seem to be very high profile compared to similar buildings like Le Marchand, Annamoe Mansions, the Westminster, or the Arlington.

I thought that maybe it was just an incorrect perception that I had, but a quick google search on the building turns up essentially nothing. It was built prior to 1919, and that is all that I can find. There is no plaque from the Edmonton Historical Board, and most surprisingly Lawrence Herzog doesn't seem to have ever mentioned it in any of his excellent articles; and he's written about everything.

So yeah, Edmonton's forgotten building.

I've actually been inside once, visiting a friend of a friend of a friend. That was years ago, and the only thing that I remember was the clingwrap they'd had to put over the windows because it was cold outside. It's hard to tell what the status is today, because there are several broken and boarded-up windows in the rear, but there are still suites advertised for rent.

As for the model, it is pretty straight-forward. As is typical with these types of buildings the rear elevation uses a different brick from the rest. And as is typical of my models I've ignored that fact and used the same brick throughout.

The High Level Bridge

Model and Building information

A bridge model is a bit different from a typical building. Rather than modeling all the individual structural pieces, it uses a lot of partially transparent textures. Transparent textures can also be useful on building models (the sunshades on the Baker Clinic, or the fire escape on the Arlington), but not on this scale. Since transparent textures in Google Earth have to be png format (rather than the typical jpg) and since png's don't compress very much, this model is the largest model I've ever done at about 2Mb.

Still, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. There's enough detail in the textures that you can zoom right in on the bridge, and it's a pretty good representation of what the High Level looks like.

The main annoyance was that the Google Earth terrain doesn't match the actual bridge approaches. This is particularly true at the north end, where the terrain had to be built up by 90' to avoid leaving the end of the bridge hanging in mid-air.

Annamoe Mansion

Model and Building information

A very cute little apartment building in an amazing location on Victoria Promenade overlooking the river valley.

This is one of the many buildings in Edmonton that uses one style of brick on the front elevation, and then another (presumably cheaper) style and colour everywhere else. When making a model, that's annoying. This model uses the fancy brown brick on all four sides.

Red Strap Market

Model and Building information

What to say about this building, other than that hopefully a new use is found for it one day soon. Those windows are just gigantic.

This is a model where I really don't know what name is best to use. Red Strap Market, even though it has gone out of business? Or Army & Navy which is probably what most people remember it as, even though that only goes back to 1954? GWG? Caledonian Department Store? I went with the most recent name, knowing it can be updated when the building finds a new role.

Buena Vista Building

Model and Building information

Unlike other trendy shopping areas in Edmonton like Whyte Avenue and 104 Street, 124 Street doesn't have very much in the way of "historic" architecture. Robertson Wesley United Church is certainly a landmark, and the building that houses Original Joe's dates back to 1915 (but since it is basically a brick garage the waitresses will always attract more attention than its Edwardian touches), and then there is the Buena Vista building.

The commercial buildings in the area are almost entirely modern. I find this reassuring, because it means that Edmonton - which has torn down many of its historic buildings, and which is a young city to begin with - can still create attractive areas. The built form matters as much as the specific style, and so it's not too late for us.

As for the Buena Vista building itself, it is hard to miss as you come across the iron bridge and head towards Jasper Avenue. For me it has always acted as somewhat of an unofficial gateway to the city's core.

H.V. Shaw Building and Maverick Brewery

Model and Building information

Another historic building with a nice and effective contemporary addition. The large painted sign on the side of the Shaw building is actually quite difficult to photograph in its entirety when you are standing on the ground. For the purposes of the model it had to be cobbled together from a few different photographs.

Oliver Telephone Exchange

Model and Building information

Tucked away in Oliver, the telephone exchange is a quaint little building with an addition that I think actually works. It doesn't try to compete with the original, but has a funky modern identity all its own.

Westmount Junior High School

Model and Building information

Westmount school certainly has opera in it.

Built in the middle nowhere, and in an area that would remain as the middle of nowhere for decades, I can't imagine the statement that it originally made on the geography, and on the children who trekked to it everyday. Now it's something that gets driven by without much notice.

The less said about the modernist addition the better. Obviously that was a thankless job, because there's no point in even trying to compete with the original school. But the solution involes one section that has 270 lineal feet of continuous precast concrete. How was that a good idea?

Court House (1912-1972)

Model and Building information

Demolished before I was born, I've long heard stories of the old Court House. Much as I appreciate Modernism, I do have to wonder how architects and planners of the day could have been so dedicated to erasing the past and replacing it with their shiny concrete modernity. How many buildings were lost because they didn't have air-conditioning, and how ridiculous is that?

On the other hand, I guess that one Beaux Arts building is kindof the same as all the rest. This frankenmodel was thrown together with bits of the Bowker Building and downtown CIBC, and is as accurate as I could make it.

The Prince of Wales Armouries

Model and Building information

In spite of the large sign above the main entrance that proclaims "1913," construction on the armoury wasn't started until 1914, and the building was not completed until 1915. 94 years later, and two of its neighbours are empty fields - Edmonton is so strange sometimes.

It's still an impressive building though, with the loopholes and turrents appealing to the kid in me. It has similar cousins spread throughout western Canada, and I've always found something comforting about being in a strange city, and stumbling upon the armoury which is both familiar and yet not.

The McLeod and Japanese Village

Building Information:

McLeod Building - 10134 100 Street NW
Built in 1915, 9 stories, 35m/115', 9000 sqft floorplates, John K. Dow Architect

The McLeod Building was built by Kenneth McLeod, and it is a replica of the Paulsen Building in Spokane which was designed by the same architect. The Mcleod was the tallest office building in Edmonton for nearly 40 years, and its footings were overbuilt and could support a 50 story building. In 1995 the building was declared a Provincial Historic resource, and in 1999 it was converted into condos.

(Source: Real Estate Weekly)

Japanese Village - 10126 100 Street NW
Built in 1910, 3 stories, 12m/40', 1500 sqft floorplates, Roland W. Lines Architect

Officially known as the Canadian Permanent Building, after the original tenant the Canadian Permanent Bank.

(Source: Real Estate Weekly)

Model Commentary:

The McLeod is another building that is possibly my favorite. It is the only surviving chicago-school high-rise in Edmonton, and so it is a unique presense in the city much like the Federal Building. And like the Federal Building there is a cleaness and simplicity to the McLeod that I find appealling. Both buildings are very nicely detailed, striking a balance between the stripped-down starkness of modernism and the fiddliness of neo-classical.

The Japanese Village is also a very nice building, but it's a bit too fiddly and baroque for me.

These are fairly early models, and again, they were made before I really knew what I was doing. I was starting to figure things out, though. There are things that I would like to change one day, but for now I'm quite happy with how it turned out.