Key Number:	HS 53852
Site Name:	Home for Neglected and Delinquent Children
Other Names:	Ross Flat Apartments
Site Type:	0104 - Residential: Apartment Building

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			52	24	4

Address:	9540 - 101 Street
Number:	40
Street:	101
Avenue:	95
Other:
Town:	Edmonton
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:	Rectangular Long Facade
Storeys:	Storeys: 3
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Concrete
Superstructure:	Brick
Superstructure Cover:	Stone Brick
Roof Structure:	Flat
Roof Cover:	Tar and Gravel, Built Up
Exterior Codes:	Massing of Units: Single Detached Wings: None Number of Bays - Facade: First or Ground Floor, 2 Bays Number of Bays - Facade: Second Floor, 7 Bays Wall Design and Detail: None Plain Eaves Roof Trim Material - Eaves: Concrete Roof Trim - Verges: Not Applicable Roof Trim Material - Verges: Concrete Towers, Steeples and Domes: None Dormer Type: None Chimney Location - Side to Side: None Roof Trim - Special Features: None Window - Structural Opening Shape: Flat Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Head: Plain Flat Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Material: Wood Window - Sill Type: Plain Slip Sill Window - Sill Material: Wood Window - Trim Within Structural Opening - Head: Plain Window - Trim Within Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Window - Number of Sashes: One Window - Opening Mechanism: Single or Double Hung Window - Special Types: None Window - Pane Arrangements: 2 over 2 Main Entrance - Location: Centre (Facade) Main Entrance - Structural Opening Shape: Flat Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Head: Plain Flat Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Main Entrance - Trim Outside Structural Opening Material: Wood Main Entrance - Trim Within Structural Opening - Head: Plain Main Entrance - Trim Within Structural Opening - Sides: Plain Main Entrance - Number of Leaves: 2 Main Entrance - Number of Panels Per Leaf: 2 Main Entrance - Leaves - Special Feature: Glass Main Stairs - Location and Design: First or Ground Floor, Without Railing Main Stairs - Direction: Straight Main Porch - Type: Open Porch Main Porch - Material: Concrete
Exterior:	Style: Edwardian Classical Revival Decorative curved hood over doorway with brackets, keystone voussoirs over windows, external stairways, two decorative pilasters flank main entryway; decorative roof frieze with entablature, verandahs on north south faces. Symmetrical massing with central projecting raised entry; arched canopy over front entry; single and double assembly 6 over 1 windows; keystones above windows; stone front steps; fire escapes to N and S sides. * * * The orange-red brick building is three storeys high above a raised basement, with a flat built-up roof. At the north and south ends white painted wood balconies rise from the ground to the third floor level. The central third of the main (east) elevation is slightly advanced to form a clearly defined central feature flanked by rusticated brick piers and rising well above the rest of the facade. The wall of the central bay above the third storey windows is separated by a narrow string course and divided into three sections by narrow brick piers carried by brick corbels projecting just below the string course. The window motif established in the central bay is repeated in the side bays. Tall double-hung windows - the lower undivided, the upper divided into six panes - are paired in the centre of the bay, with single windows to either side. Both the single windows and the pairs are headed by flat brick arches with narrow white keystones, the centre of which projects from the face of the wall and rises higher above the arch than the rest of the keystone. The window opening is closed below by a simple lug sill, also in white. The side bays are plain, except for the window treatment and a substantial white cornice with a quarter round profile rising to a fillet. The brick parapet above is covered by a moulded cap. These long horizontal details are carried out in painted sheet metal. The balconies to the north and south are constructed in wood as self-supporting structures with simple detail to continue the classical themes of the brick facade. The balconies are connected vertically to each other by internal dog-leg stairs, and to the ground at the rear by a short external flight. The rear (west) elevation is plainly treated without the detail of the front entrance except for the cornice, which is continued right around the building, and darker red flat arches without keystones above the windows of the three main storeys. The basement windows have plain concrete lug sills. The central feature of the building is its main entrance. Raised a half-storey above ground by the high basement, it is reached by a solid flight of concrete steps guarded by solid brick part walls. These begin from stubby sandstone piers on stone pedestals, which support horizontal sections of red sandstone cap just before the first step. The cap continues upward parallel to the rake of the stairs carried on brick walls, which rise on both sides of the flight. White string courses carry the line of the cap back to the outside edge of the piers framing the central bay. The rustication of the piers begins above this line. A pair of painted wood doors are set in a rectangular frame in the brick wall at the top of the steps and landing. The door and landing are sheltered by a semicircular canopy in wood and sheet metal the width of the landing that projects from the face of the building. The canopy is continued to the edge of the piers (which frame the bay) by flat horizontal sections, which are supported by six open curved wood brackets, themselves supported from corbels. The wall space over the doors, defined above by the curved section of the canopy, is completely filled by the voussoirs of a flat brick arch with a giant keystone, which is an exaggerated version of the keystones over the other windows. A final point to note above the main facade is the subtle play of colour. The flat brick arches above the windows, the piers and the upper wall framing the central bay are in a darker brick laid with matching red mortar (elsewhere the mortar is uncoloured). The darker red clearly distinguishes these parts of the facade without a jarring contrast of colour. Discrete emphasis of the visual scheme is the result. ** ** ** - arched projecting raised entry - stone front steps - key stones over windowsdouble hung windows - wooden balconies, fire escapes at north and south facades.
Interior:	The building consists of twelve apartments which include two suites on each of the first and second floors. These are situated east and west of the central open newel stair, which rises under a central skylight from the first to the third floor. The remaining eight apartments are on the third floor with bachelor apartments on the east side of a double-loaded corridor running the full width of the building, from north to south. Much of the original arrangement of service facilities remains in the basement. Despite changing occupancies, the building retains most of its original character evident immediately on entry from the terrazzo floor with the inlaid date, 1911, and the original wood stair.
Environment:	Neighbourhood: Rossdale Compatible; Edmonton's 1st exhibition grounds. Grassed yard, parkland adjacent. The Ross Flats Apartment building is a free-standing structure occupying a corner site southwest of the intersection of 101 Street and 98 Avenue. Its main entrance is at the centre of the east facade facing 101 Street. The context is that of an older river valley community, separated from the rest of the city by the escarpment to the north, the river and escarpment to the south. It is further defined by more recent roads designed to connect north and south sections of the city. The district includes historic commercial and institutional buildings, including the Donald Ross School, Ortona Armoury and the Rossdale Brewery. The Ross Flats Apartment Building is consistent in scale and character with the area, and as a somewhat more emphatic structure in size and treatment, it gives the area a focus. The nearby city water filtration facility is a somewhat incongruous element.
Condition:	Good (2007)
Alterations:	Internal. In a recent rehabilitation the north balcony has lost a cornice at the third floor level, glazing meant to screen part of the second storey and some other minor details.

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Construction Started One storey addition to W side	1911/01/01 1914/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Children shelter Grace Hospitals Ross Flat Apartments Residential apartments	1912/01/01 1925/01/01 1944/01/01 2007/11/10
Owner:	Owner Date:
Hudson Bay Co. City of Edmonton	1897/10/02 1912/11/19

Architect:	James Henderson
Builder:	N/A
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	Constructed 1911 as Home for Neglected and Delinquent Children. Turned over to the Salvation Army in May 1925 and operated as the Grace Hospital to 1942. 1942-1944 Used by American Serviceman and known as Little America Transit Hotel. Used a an residential apartment since AD 1944. Three storey brick building. * * * Erected as a home for neglected and delinquent children in 1911; it was purported to be the best of its kind in Canada. Addition in 1914; since demolished - cost $ 1200. Children's home closed 1925 and building was turned over to Salvation Army who operated it as Grace Hospital until 1942 (home for unwed mothers). 1936 - reclaimed as children shelter. 1942 - 1944 it was used by America servicemen and known as the Little America Transit Hotel - for workers constructing the Alaska Highway. 1897 October 9 owners: Hudson's Bay Company. 1912 November 19 owner: City of Edmonton (Present Owners). Cows provided sustenance for many nursing babies - has small stable on grounds. ** * ** This building was constructed in 1911 as a home for neglected and delinquent children. It was, according to R. Chadwich (Superintendent for Neglected Children of the Province), the finest institution of its kind in Canada. An addition was added in 1914 at a cost of $1,200. The children's home closed in May 1925 and the building was turned over to the Salvation Army. It was operated as the Grace Hospital. During 1942-44 when American servicemen were in Edmonton it was known as the Little America Transit Hotel. The building is presently use as an apartment block and is known as Ross Flats Apartments. * * * In 1874, after nine years of prospecting for gold in California, Donald Ross (1840-1915) arrived in Edmonton to homestead on the flats below the Methodist mission established by the Reverend John McDougall. Ross' log house became the City's first hotel and the river valley south of downtown was named after him. In 1911 the City of Edmonton began constructing a new Children's Shelter in the Ross Flats area on land it had acquired from the Hudson's Bay Company. The Children's Shelter, described as a 'Home for Delinquent and Neglected Children', replaced the small existing shelter at 47 Cameron Street in the east end of the city. The Ross Flats building is a unique example of an early children's shelter, and is the only structure of its kind surviving from Edmonton's early years. The city continued to operate the shelter until 1925, when the children were transferred to a new shelter at 10759-98 Street. The building was then leased to the Salvation Army who operated in it as the Grace Hospital for a number of years. Between 1942 and 1944, the building was used as a hostelry for American servicemen on their way to the Alaska Highway, and was called the Little America Transit Hotel. In 1944 war-time use ceased and it became the twelve suite Ross Flat Apartments. It continues today in this use and is still owned and operated by the City of Edmonton. The Children's Shelter was designed by James Henderson (1861-1932), a leading Edmonton architect. Originally from England, Henderson established his practice in Edmonton some time before 1907. He designed many residential buildings, including the Glenora mansion of Attorney General Charles Cross (1912; demolished in 1977), and a number of commercial and civic structures including the Brighton Block (1910; re-faced in 1944), and Fire Hall #5 (1910). In 1907 Henderson was elected a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He joined the Alberta Association of Architects the same year and served as President of the Association in 1914. Internal alterations have accompanied the Children's Shelter's subsequent changes in use. Nonetheless, most of the original interior surfaces remain, and the architectural character of the interior is relatively unchanged. Although access to the basement stair has been enclosed, the first floor railing remains intact. A one-storey dormitory addition built on the west side of the building in 1914 was later demolished. Apart from some alterations to openings in that (rear) elevation and minor alterations to the north and south balconies, the exterior of the building is unaltered. 1872 - Donald Ross arrives to homestead in the area. 1911-12 - The Children's Shelter is constructed and occupied. 1914 - One-storey dormitory addition is built on west side of building (later demolished). 1925 - Use as The Children's Shelter ceases, children moved to a new shelter at 10759-98 Street. c.1925 - Salvation Army operates the Grace Hospital in the building. 1942-42 - Used as residence for U.S. servicemen in transit, known as the Little America Transit Hotel. 1944 - Becomes the Ross Flat Apartments.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Municipal A List

Register:	A89

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places: