Saskatchewan Drive

The Manhattan and Strathcona House


Capital View Tower and Riverwind


Waterford House, Tower on the Hill and Lord Strathcona Manor


Kennedy Towers, Cranleigh Towers, and the Water's Edge


Parkside Towers and One River Park


9929 Saskatchewan Drive and Riverview Manor

My first models on the south side of the river, and from west-to-east this mostly completes the skyline along Saskatchewan Drive.

There are a couple of really nice building along here - notably One River Park and Riverwind. There is also the funky modernism of Kennedy Towers and Capital View Tower, and the cold precision of the Water's Edge.

Too many of these buildings - notably One River Park and Riverwind - make the mistake of thinking that people only want views of the river and that everything else secondary. This is a problem throughout Edmonton resulting in many forgotten north walls, although in the case of Saskatchewan drive it is the south wall that is ignored.

A rail right-of-way runs behind several of these buildings and beyond that is heritage neighbourhood, so while there is no such thing as a guaranteed view the one south from these towers is pretty close. I haven't spent much time on low-low floors, but from 6 or 8 storeys up almost any view will look good, and at 10 or 20 storeys the view out to the distant Alberta horizon can be spectacular. Maybe one day Edmonton will figure that out, but after more than 50 years of high-rise construction it hasn't happened yet.

30 Apartments and 1 Office

I don't particularly like modeling apartment buildings, but occasionally I'm hit with a need for completeness. This set has a few buildings in the McKay Avenue area, along with a lot in southeast Oliver and Grandin. Previously I hadn't done anything in that area, but this should fill it in nicely.


Hillside Estates North & South, Dunedin House and McDougall Place


Grandin Green and the David Thompson


Park Towers, the Panorama and the Edgehill


Central Park, the Trethway, Dorchester House & Maureen Manor


Valhalla and Victoria Park Tower


York House, Bondell Tower, Lancaster House & the DeVille


Academy Place and Windsor Arms


Capital Place, Tower on the Park and Grandin Manor


Westwind Estates and Le Jardin


Tegler Manor, Rosedale Place, Westcliffe Arms and Grandin Towers


Cathedral Court

Apartment buildings are a really great way to learn how to do photereferenced models in Sketchup. If you're interested in taking a crack at modeling they are the absolute best place to start because apartment buildings are impossible to screw up.

In the same way that they are impossible to screw up they are also almost impossible to do really well. There are three or four different ways to model balconies (all on display here), and none of them are good. With a model like the Baker Clinic, QE II Planetarium or SAGE you can strip away the questionable additions, the neglect, and the urban clutter to reveal the hidden intent. With an apartment building there's nothing hidden - it's a box; or in this case many, many boxes. Apartments get pretty boring once the initial learning is over.

Probably the most interesting thing about these models is seeing "families" of buildings pop up. There are the obvious ones like Hillside Estates North and South; and the more recent Grandin Manor, Grand Central Manor, Lord Strathcona Manor, etc.  There are also:

The David Thompson and Capital Centre
The Edgehill and Victoria Park Towers
Maureen Manor, York House, Academy Place, Windsor Arms and several more I haven't gotten to.
Grandin Towers and Jasper House
Le Jardin, Jasper 111 and Rocky Mountain Court in Calgary

Edmonton Queen Riverboat

Model and Building information

One of the things about a model in Google Earth is that it can draw attention. Especially for something located a little bit away from everything else, people might notice that bumpy shape on the horizon and go check it out. I like to think that somewhere out there in the interwebs visitors to Edmonton are poking around in Google Earth, clicking on buildings that they find interesting, and maybe adjusting their trips accordingly. I don't know if that actually happens, but the possibility of it happening is always in the back of my mind.

And because of that I modeled the Edmonton Queen. It is a unique and somewhat unexpected attraction in Edmonton, and I think it deserves to be noticed.

As for the model, it is...a boat. It's okay, but once again is more on the side of gets-the-point-across than isn't-that-amazing.