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Strathcona Hotel
Edmonton
Other Names:
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Westminster Ladies College
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Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Strathcona Hotel is a three storey commercial structure with a hipped roof, clapboard siding and a corner entrance. It is located on the north west corner of Whyte Avenue and Gateway Boulevard and occupies two city lots in the Old Strathcona Provincial Historic Area.
Heritage Value
The Strathcona Hotel is significant for its association with the development of South Edmonton and the Town of Strathcona, as well as its simple frontier design.
The Strathcona Hotel is significant for its association with the development of South Edmonton and the Town of Strathcona. The hotel was built in 1891 as a railroad hotel for the Calgary and Edmonton Railway Company, across the street from the railway station at the “end of steel”. The Strathcona Hotel was the first hotel in South Edmonton (by 1899 it became the Town of Strathcona) and thus served as a stopping point for immigrants seeking to establish homesteads or businesses in the Northwest. From 1891 to 1904 it was the largest hotel in the region with 45 guest rooms. Because it relied heavily on revenue from the tavern located in the west annex, prohibition forced the sale of the hotel. It was purchased by the Presbyterian Church, who used the building to house the Westminster Ladies College from 1918 to 1924. With the end of prohibition the building reverted back to use as a hotel.
The Strathcona Hotel is significant for its simple frontier design. Built in 1891, with subsequent additions in 1903 and 1907, the Strathcona Hotel is the oldest wood frame commercial structure in Edmonton. Typical of frontier buildings, little consideration was given to exterior ornamentation, and in this case it is the large hipped roof, the brackets under the eaves, and the pediments over the windows and doors that give the hotel a classical appearance.
Source: City of Edmonton Planning and Development Department File 659449.
Character-Defining Elements
The heritage value of the Strathcona Hotel is expressed in such character-defining elements as:
- late Victorian commercial architectural style;
- form, scale and massing;
- unusual L-shaped floor plan, with two annexes;
- large hipped roof;
- sawn cedar roof shingles;
- the south and east façade fenestration pattern (on all three levels);
- horizontal exterior wooden siding;
- detailing including exposed decorative brackets and pediments over windows and doors;
- masonry extension to the north;
- corner entrance;
- north façade fenestration pattern; and
- exterior steel fire escape.
Location
| Street Address: |
10302 - 82 Avenue NW |
| Community: |
Edmonton |
| Boundaries: |
Lot 1 and a Portion of Lot 2, Block 68, Plan I |
| Contributing Resources: |
Buildings: 1
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ATS Legal Description:
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Mer |
Rge |
Twp |
Sec |
LSD |
4
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24
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52
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28
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PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
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Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
I
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68
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1-2
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Latitude/Longitude:
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Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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53.518385 |
-113.495259 |
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NAD 83 |
UTM Reference:
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Northing |
Easting |
Zone |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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Recognition
| Recognition Authority: |
Local Governments (AB) |
| Designation Status: |
Municipal Historic Resource |
| Date of Designation: |
2007/05/22 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1891 to 1891 |
| Period of Significance: |
1891 to 2010 |
| Theme(s): |
Developing Economies : Trade and Commerce
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| Historic Function(s): |
Commerce / Commercial Services : Hotel, Motel or Inn
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| Current Function(s): |
Commerce / Commercial Services : Hotel, Motel or Inn
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| Architect: |
W.A. Whiddington
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| Builder: |
Pheasy and Batson
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| Context: |
Because it relied heavily on revenue from the tavern located in the west annex, prohibition forced the sale of the hotel. It was purchased by the Presbyterian Church, who used the building to house the Westminster Ladies College from 1918 to 1924. With the end of prohibition the building reverted back to use as a hotel.
Victorian architecture was popular between 1860 and 1900, the later years of Queen Victoria’s long reign. It was characterized by the complex use of elaborate detailing made possible by increasing industrialization and mechanization of the building process, which allowed materials to be constructed offsite and shipped to the construction site. Little attempt was made at historically precise detailing, and elements were borrowed from Greek, Gothic and Italianate modes of the preceding Romantic era. |
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Additional Information
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