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Camrose Feed Mill
Camrose
Other Names:
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Camrose Feed Mill Restaurant
Camrose Office Towers (Feedmill)
Camrose Office Towers Ltd.
Camrose Office Towers Ltd. (Old Mill)
Feedmill Dining Lounge
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Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Camrose Feed Mill is an early twentieth century, two-storey rectangular building located on a single lot southeast of Camrose's central business district. It features red brick facing, a chamfered front corner entryway, and numerous segmentally arched windows.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Camrose Feed Mill lies in its association with the development of wholesale facilities in Camrose and its example of typical warehouse architecture in early twentieth century Alberta.
Camrose was established as a transportation hub in the early twentieth century when it became a junction point for three railways - the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.), Canadian Northern Railway (C.No.R), and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (G.T.P.). As a result of its strategic position in the province's rail network, Camrose became a centre for wholesale operations. The Camrose Feed Mill was originally constructed at the height of the city's boom times in 1910 by Georgeson & Co. Ltd., a Calgary grocery wholesale firm. It was later sold and was transformed for use in subsequent years as a liquor store, a seed cleaning plant, and a restaurant. It remains one of the few remaining wholesale facilities in Camrose's original warehouse district.
The architecture of the Camrose Feed Mill embodies many of the typical elements of Alberta warehouses from this period. Its basic rectangular design, brick facing, and simple detailing were common in the province's warehouse constructions of the early twentieth century. The building is distinguished by its chamfered corner entryway and its decorative details, including large segmentally arched windows, a cornice on the facades facing the street, and stone sills, lintels, keystones, and stringcourses on the building's front facade. The typical design and spartan decoration emphasize the building's utilitarian purpose.
Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 981)
Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of the Camrose Feed Mill include such features as:
- form, massing, and style;
- flat roof with cornice on two facades facing the street;
- predominantly red brick facade with diachromatic decorative brickwork;
- fenestration pattern, including segmentally arched windows and historic frames and sashes;
- stone sills, lintels, keystones, and stringcourses on the front facade;
- chamfered front corner containing entryway composed of a doorway with round arched transom and a stone porch roof supported by corbelled brick brackets;
- exposed structural elements on the interior, including timber post-and-beam assembly with steel connectors.
Location
| Street Address: |
4919 - 47 Street |
| Community: |
Camrose |
| Boundaries: |
Lot 10A, Block 33, Plan 7722174 |
| 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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20
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47
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2
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6 (ptn.)
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PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
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Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
7722174
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33
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10A
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Latitude/Longitude:
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Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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53.021569 |
-112.819804 |
GPS |
NAD 83 |
UTM Reference:
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Northing |
Easting |
Zone |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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Recognition
| Recognition Authority: |
Province of Alberta |
| Designation Status: |
Provincial Historic Resource |
| Date of Designation: |
1985/05/31 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1910 to 1910 |
| Period of Significance: |
N/A |
| Theme(s): |
Developing Economies : Trade and Commerce
Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life : Architecture and Design
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| Historic Function(s): |
Commerce / Commercial Services : Warehouse
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| Current Function(s): |
Commerce / Commercial Services : Eating or Drinking Establishment
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| Architect: |
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| Builder: |
Georgeson & Co. Ltd.
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| Context: |
HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
This structure was erected in 1910, by Georgeson and Co. Ltd., a wholesale grocery firm from Calgary. The firm had been established in Calgary in 1906 by William Georgeson, a prominent member of the Winnipeg Business Community prior to his relocation farther west. The warehouse was one of a number constructed at this time, and gave Camrose a significant wholesale function in the region. The emergence of Camrose as a warehouse center resulted from construction of branch lines through the community by the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Canadian Northern Railway, and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. In 1938 the building was acquired by the Province of Alberta for use as a liquor store. It was resold in 1944, to the Alberta Seed Growers Co-operative Limited. The conversion of the building into a seed cleaning plant necessitated the addition of a wooden superstructure and machinery to the 1910 portion of the building. The machinery and superstructure was later removed in order to permit its use as a restaurant. Greatly altered during its period of use as a feed mill, the exterior has been virtually returned to its original appearance with the exception of relatively sympathetic new entrances. The interior has been much altered due to the structure's variety of uses, but currently includes massive timber posts and beams of the type which originally supported the structure. It is considered important as one of the few remaining warehouse structures in Camrose's original warehouse district.
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Additional Information
| Object Number: |
4665-0501 |
| Designation File: |
DES 0981 |
| Related Listing(s): |
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| Heritage Survey File: |
HS 25186
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| Website Link: |
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| Data Source: |
Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Old St. Stephen's College, 8820 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8 (File: Des. 981) |
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