The Alberta Hotel - Edmonton
Source : Bank of Canada
Description
Fred Jackson and Edmund Del Grierson commissioned architect James Edward Wize to design them a pressed brick and sandstone hotel overlooking the river valley where Canada Place now stands on Jasper Avenue at 98 Street. Before the hotel, the spot was home to Luke Kelly’s saloon and billiard hall beginning in 1883, and was then converted for use as a hotel in 1893.
Wize devised a Victorian Romanesque-style building with a conical 75-foot-high corner tower, round and segmentally arched windows and a rusticated base, all of which gave it a castle-like appearance. When it opened in 1903, the Alberta Hotel boasted the first elevator in the city and shower baths. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier stayed at the hotel when he visited Edmonton in 1905 to mark Alberta’s entry into Confederation.
Riding the publicity from his new hotel and his reputation, Grierson was elected alderman in 1904. Grierson Hill bears his name.
The Alberta Hotel was dismantled and demolished in 1984. Parts of the historic building were salvaged, including the west- and south-facing sandstone and brick facades, crowning white cupola, the elegant bar room interior, exterior signs, and the original elevator. Some of the elements have been used in a replica building just east of the original site.
Specifications
- Issuer: The Alberta Hotel
- Issuing date : 1902 - 1981
- Composition: Brass
- Diameter: 24.7 mm
- Edge: Smooth
- St #: ED035b
Last update : Friday, July 12, 2013
