Key Number:	HS 58564
Site Name:	Hecla Block
Other Names:
Site Type:	0104 - Residential: Apartment Building

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			52	24	4

Address:	10141 - 95 Street NW
Number:	41
Street:	95 NW
Avenue:	101A NW
Other:
Town:	Edmonton
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:	Classical Revival
Plan Shape:	L
Storeys:	Storeys: 3
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Concrete
Superstructure:	Brick
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:	Massing of Units: Single Detached Wings: Unknown Number of Bays - Facade: First or Ground Floor, 6 Bays Number of Bays - Facade: Second Floor, 7 Bays Number of Bays - Facade: Third Floor, 7 Bays Wall Design and Detail: Decorative Shingle Roof Trim - Eaves: Plain Soffit Roof Trim Material - Eaves: Wood Roof Trim - Verges: Plain Soffit Roof Trim Material - Verges: Wood Towers, Steeples and Domes: None Dormer Type: None Chimney Location - Side to Side: Unknown Roof Trim - Special Features: None Window - Structural Opening Shape: Flat Window - Trim Outside Structural Opening - Head: Keystone 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: Shaped hood, with or without brackets 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: 1 Main Entrance - Number of Panels Per Leaf: 1 Main Entrance - Leaves - Special Feature: Glass Main Stairs - Location and Design: First or Ground Floor, Without Railing Main Stairs - Direction: Straight Main Porch - Type: Recess Main Porch - Material: Concrete Main Porch - Height: First Storey
Exterior:	3 + basement (with original boiler) has 7 one-bedroom suits on each of 3 floors except the 1st which has the only batchelor apt. Symmentrical massing; central arched entry; pressed metal cornice; double-hung wooden sash windows; keystones; 'Hecla Block' name plaque in parapet on south and west facades. The Hecla Block presents a handsome prospect towards both 95 Street and 101A Avenue. The red textured low-fired brick exterior material gives a sense of warmth and solidity. The brick is highlighted by buff stone trim in the flat arches over the window heads, at the corners as quoins, in string courses above the second and third storeys, and in diamond-shaped panels between the second-floor windows. The exterior of the basement walls is also constructed with the buff stone. The two main elevations carry a classical, detailed cornice, but other than the deep cornice and the quoins the building has no direct historical references. In light of this, the style may be described as Edwardian Classicism. The 66-foot-wide principal facade on 95 Street has seven windows on every floor - the outer ones being treated in pairs - and features a curved canopy supported on brackets over the entrance and a raised panel in the parapet inscribed 'Hecla Block'. The 101A Avenue elevation is 80 feet wide and has nine windows on each floor, the two smaller ones illuminating kitchens. The north and east walls use lower quality brick and are unornamented. The north wall is blank except for windows in a recessed light court (built in anticipation of an adjacent structure), and the east elevation has some windows and a fire escape (in a recess). The brick exterior walls rest on reinforced concrete foundation walls, while the wood-frame structure is supported by steel columns (on concrete footings) and beams at the basement level. Hardie and Martland's structural design has stood up well, as the building shows few signs of settlement or structural cracking. Minor damage to the external brickwork has been caused by the freezing and thawing of water running down the face of the brick, missing coping stones, and (on the soft brick at the rear) possible past failures of the roof drain.
Interior:	Double facades topped with rounded pediments; stone canopy shelters front entrance, dentilled gable, tapestry brick facing accented by stone: includes decorated overhanging cornice and contrasting quions; ornamental keystones over windows. Tile work in foyer with the name Hecla inlaid; brass and glass vestibule doors, common water closets and bathrooms; old laundry area with fixtures. The apartment building originally provided basic, but adequate, housing. Behind the facade were twenty-one suites on three storeys, most of them containing a living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, a small closet, and a lavatory with a toilet and sink. Two common bathtubs and one shower were accessed from the corridor on each floor. A series of light and ventilation shafts served the washrooms and bathrooms. The plan is skewed to accommodate the oblique angle between the two streets - the result is a building shaped somewhat like a slanted letter 'J' and many rooms that are trapezoidal in shape. The largest living rooms are about 17 feet long, the smallest bedrooms about 10 feet across. The ceilings are high: the floor-to- ceiling heights on the three floors are 10'-6', 9'-6', and 9'-0'. The basement originally contained lockers, a playroom, a laundry, and the furnace room (which contains a low-pressure steam boiler).
Environment:	Neighbourhood: Boyle Street Considered prime residential real estate location just east of city's first business district along 97 street. Area of mixed use.
Condition:	N/A
Alterations:	Front door replaced. The building has been altered little over the years, although it has changed hands many times. Many suites were provided with bathtubs by filling in the light wells, some of the wood floors were covered with linoleum, and various finishes were renewed.

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Construction Started	1914/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Apartment building
Owner:	Owner Date:
Mr. G.A. Armason John Johnson Hecla Apartment Limited Molson's Bank Bank of Montreal Sarah Johnson Holland-Canada Mortgage Company Ltd. Frank Engelmann Arthur and Martha Buss Raab Holdings Limited	1906/10/01 1916/01/01 1924/03/01 1925/04/01 1925/07/01 1925/07/01 1947/02/01 1973/11/01 1975/01/01

Architect:	David Hardie and John Martland
Builder:	J. Johnson
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	1924: Molson's Bank foreclosed the block owned by John Johnson's Co. - Hecla Apartments Ltd. 1926: Edmonton Lands Co. Ltd., owned by brothers Lewis A. and N. Roy Weber, assumed proprietorship. 1982: Purchased by A.E. LePage Ltd. 1975: Toni Raab purchased. Has hoped to upgrade building - only half of the apartments have been rehabilitated to some degree. Johnson both owner and builder. The name - Hecla - honours Mount Hecla, Iceland's celebrated volcano. Hecla in the Icelandic language, the truest form of Old Norse, means cape. Designed by D. Hardie and J. Martland. Builder and owner - John Johnson (born Skagafirde, Iceland). Source: Mr. G.A. Armason 14434 - McQueen Blvd. 455-7946 ***** The Hecla Block is a three-storey brick apartment building on 95 Street, a short distance south of Jasper Avenue East. The building is a distinctive landmark in a neighbourhood that contains numerous survivors of a once-vital residential community. Named after Mount Hecla, the largest and most well-known volcano in Iceland, the apartment block was built by Icelandic-Canadian John Johnson (1860-1949). Johnson arrived in Canada with his family in 1876, and settled in Gimli, Manitoba, which was Canada's largest Icelandic community and a part of what was then the Republic of New Iceland. (Hecla Island and Hecla Village are a short distance north of Gimli). From there he then moved to Markerville, Alberta, finally arriving in Edmonton in 1902, where he established himself as a builder. Johnson erected some sixty-five houses and two apartment buildings in the east-central part of the City. His other apartment block, the Riverview Apartments, stood across 95 Street from the Hecla. The lot is now vacant. Johnson acquired two lots in October 1906 at the northeast corner of 95 Street (surveyed as Boundary Avenue, but first known as Syndicate Avenue) and 101A Avenue (originally known as Stewart Street). This was a portion of River Lot 16, which had been subdivided a year earlier by Alfred Driscoll and Catherine Stewart (who gave her name to the cross-street). Johnson erected a house on each lot. They were to stand less than a decade, as he decided to redevelop the property with an apartment building in order to take advantage of Edmonton's rapidly growing population. Johnson retained the local firm of Hardie and Martland, 'building designers and structural engineers', to design the apartment building. In 1914 David Hardie (1882-1930) and John Martland (1878-1957) were not yet registered as architects. Hardie had begun applying to the Alberta Assocation of Architects in 1907, but was informed he must sit his final examinations before he would be admitted. In 1920 he was finally accepted. Prior to the Hecla Apartments, Hardie had designed the J.C. McDougall Residence (1912) on 103 Street, the Tyrone Apartments on 99 Avenue and The Armstrong Block (1912) on 104 Street. John Martland's activities before he arrived in Edmonton in 1910 are unknown. He became municipal architect for the City of Edmonton in 1919, a position he held for 18 years. He was admitted to the Alberta Association of Architects in 1919 and served as Association President from 1938 to 1944. Both Hardie and Martland sat on the Association's 1921 Ethics Committee which was formed to deal with competition practices. The partners also designed the Sacred Heart Church (1913) on 96 Street and 108 Avenue. Hardie and Martland's working drawings of the Hecla Block--prints of which survive in the City of Edmonton Archives--are dated April 1914. Application for a building permit was made on May 29, 1914, and the permit for work valued at $40,000 was issued on the same day. Johnson's two houses were demolished to clear the site. Construction must gave proceeded quickly, since the Hecla Block and its tenants were listed in the 1915 municipal directory. Most of the early tenants were blue-collar workers, as were the majority of residents in the adjacent community. The Hecla Block belongs to Edmonton's first generation of apartment buildings. A number of apartment blocks were built in the period prior to World War I; the best known of these, the LeMarchand Mansion (1911) and the Arlington (1909), had relatively large rooms and catered to the city's middle and upper-middle classes. At the same time, apartment blocks such as the Hecla were being erected for working-class residents in the east-central portion of the City. A three-storey wood-frame building, The Tremont, was built a year before the Hecla and still stands across the street from it at 10136 - 95 Avenue, and Johnson's Riverview Apartments (no longer extant) were subsequently built next to the Tremont. Many apartment buildings of this kind have become rooming houses and residential hotels. Several of these, the W.W. Arcade Building (1911-1912), Brighton Block (1911-1912), and the Lodge Hotel (1904; 1912), are located nearby on the Jasper East Block. Another, the Ross Flats Apartment Building (1911-1912), was converted to apartments from its original use as a children's shelter. The Hecla Block is significant for being one of relatively few purpose-built blue-collar apartment buildings still standing adjacent to the city core. In 1924 the bank foreclosed and Johnson lost control of the Hecla Block. The apartment building changed ownership several times until 1975, when Toni Raab (Raab Holdings Limited) purchased the property. Raab renovated some of the suites in the apartment building, and sold it to its present owner in October 1989. The brick exterior walls rest on reinforced concrete foundation walls, while the wood-frame structure is supported by steel columns (on concrete footings) and beams at the basement level. Hardie and Martland's structural design has stood up well, as the building shows few signs of settlement or structural cracking. Minor damage to the external brickwork has been caused by the freezing and thawing of water running down the face of the brick, missing coping stones, and (on the soft brick at the rear) possible past failures of the roof drain. The original plan and most of the early finishes remain intact. The tiled vestibule, with the name 'Hecla' laid into its floor, leads to a large open wood staircase illuminated by a skylight. The plaster of the corridor walls is scored below the wood dado rails and smooth above them. The wood door and window casing remain in place, as do the transoms over the entrances to the suites. 1905 - River Lot 16, owned by Alfred Driscoll and Catherine Stewart, is subdivided for development. 1906 - October. John Johnson acquires Lots 5 and 6 for $2,025 from labourer Stefan Nivezez. Shortly afterwards he builds a house on each. 1913 - May. Johnson again receives title to Lot 6. 1914 - April. Working drawings for the Hecla Block are prepared for John Johnson by Hardie and Martland. 1914 - May 29. A building permit is approved by the City for construction valued at $40,000. Houses on Lots 5 and 6 are demolished. 1915 - The Hecla Block is listed as being occupied in the City Directory. 1916 - January. Johnson transfers the title to Hecla Apartment Limited. (This was likely, Johnson's own company). Several mortgages are taken on the property. 1924 - March. The property is foreclosed by Molson's Bank. 1925 - April. Title is transferred to the Bank of Montreal. (The Bank of Montreal had acquired Molson's Bank). 1925 - July. The Johnson family reacquires the property, but only in name. Sarah Johnson, John's wife, acquires title, but on the same day it is transferred to Holland-Canada Mortgage Company Limited. 1926 - February. The property is acquired by Edmonton Lands Limited. 1929 - March. The property is reacquired by Holland-Canada Mortgage Company Limited. 1947 - February. Frank Engelmann of Edmonton purchases the property. 1966 - August. The executors of the late Frank Engelmann take title to the property. 1973 - November. Arthur and Martha Buss of Edmonton purchase the property. 1975 - January. The property is purchased by Raab Holdings Limited, whose principal is Toni Raab. Some renovations are undertaken in subsequent years. 1989 - October. The current owner purchases the property. * * * HECLA BLOCK (1914) Building Named After Icelandic Volcano John Johnson's investment in the Hecla was a venture which failed to pan out. Icelandic born Johnson was the first owner as well as the builder of this handsome but modest three-storey brick building. The L-shaped building can still turn an eye. Its dapper double facades are topped with ronded pediments. A roof-top flagpole stands behind the west pediment where Norse colors have flown. The original stone canopy with period light fixtures still shelters the front entrance. A dentilled gable, tapestry brick facing, and stone accents complete an inviting and tasteful appearance. Johnson also constructed the kitty-corner Riverview Apartments as well as about 60 homes in the east-central area of Edmonton during early boom days, prior to World War I. Redevelopment was hardly an issue then - the Boyle Street area was being built up rapidly. Johnson along with many others considered it prime residential real estate, located as it was just east of the city's first business district along 97th Street. Inside the building are all the trappings of another time. Original tilework in the foyer with the name Hecla inlaid, brass and glass vestibule doors, a skylight over the stairwell, brass door plates, and common water closets and bathrooms are found. John Johnson was born in Skagafirde, Iceland, and moved to Gimli, Manitoba with his family in 1876. The Johnson family was part of a wave of Icelandic immigrants to Canada and the U.S. who were spurred by political upheaval, catastrophic weather, and volcanic eruptions in their homeland. Johnson moved here to make his fortune. In 1906 he paid laborer Stefan Nivezez $2,025 for the two lots on which the building now sits. In 1913 he engaged architects David Hardie and John Martland to draw up the plans for the Hecla, to be situated on what was then known as Syndicate Avenue and Stewart Street. A building permit granted April 1914 indicated the block's value at $40,000. Martland went on to become City of Edmonton architect for 18 years. He also served as president of the Alberta Association of Architects. Of the Hecla's classical revival design, Alberta Culture said that beyond its symmetrical plan, classical features included the decorated overhanging cornice and contrasting quoins, as well as ornamental keystones over the windows. One of the most interesting features of the building is its two facades. But even on Hardie and Martlands' plans, there was no question that this was a building fit for Norsemen. The Icelandic flag is etched on the blueprints, as is the name Hecla. Throughout the Catholic world until the end of the 17th century, Mount Hecla was though to be the largest volcanic mountain and Iceland's most celebrated volcano. John Johnson and his company which owned the block, were foreclosed upon by the Molson's Bank in 1924.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Municipal Historic Resource	1999/10/19

Register:	A5

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places: