Report for Executive Committee July 14, 1999 Meeting

Notice of Intention to Designate the Hecla Block located at 10141 - 95 Street as a Municipal Historic Resource.

Recommendation:

That City Council authorize the City Clerk to serve a Notice of Intention to Designate an Historic Resource (Attachment 1) to the owner of the property occupied by the Hecla Block in accordance with Section 22 of the Historical Resources Act.
That the General Manager of Planning and Development be hereby appointed to implement matters arising from the issuance of the Notice of Intention to Designate the Hecla Block.

Report Summary

The Hecla Block is on the “A” List of The Register of Historic Resources in Edmonton and merits designation as a Municipal Historic Resource under City Policy C-450 – “A Policy to Encourage the Designation and Rehabilitation of Historic Resources in Edmonton”.
The property is currently owned by 775724 Alberta Ltd., Frank P.H. Bowen.
On June 17, 1999, Mr. Frank P.H. Bowen, on behalf of 775724 Alberta Ltd. completed application requirements to have the Hecla Block designated as a Municipal Historic Resource under the provisions of City Policy C-450.

Budget / Financial Implications

Should the designation process proceed, the rehabilitation incentive would not exceed $135,000. This amount would be payable over a period of two years (1999-2000) as various phases of the rehabilitation are completed. The Planning and Development Department annually budgets for rehabilitation incentives to encourage the designation of historic resources.

Legal Implications

Serving a Notice of Intention to Designate an historic resource is the first step required in designating it as a Municipal Historic Resource.

Justification of Recommendation

Issuance of the Notice of Intention to Designate and subsequent approval of the designation bylaw will give the Administration the authority to ensure that the historic resource is maintained and conserved in accordance with accepted standards, principles and practices of heritage conservation.
Council should appoint the General Manager of the Planning and Development Department for the purpose of fulfilling Section 22(6) of the Historical Resources Act. This will allow the General Manager to address any issue arising from the Notice.

Background Information Attached

Notice of Intention to Designate the Hecla Block as a Municipal Historic Resource.
Location of the Hecla Block, 10141 95 Street.
Photographs of the Hecla Block.
Heritage Planner’s Summary of Historical and Architectural Information.

Others Approving this Report

Charlotte St. Dennis, Law Branch, Corporate Services

(Page 1 of 1 1)

Attachment 1

Notice of Intention to Designate a Municipal Historic Resource

HISTORICAL RESOURCES ACT

Section 22 R.S.A. 1980, c.H.-8, as amended

TO:775724 Alberta Ltd.

#3, 9908 – 109 Street

Edmonton, Alberta

T5K 1H5

Notice is hereby given that sixty (60 days) from the date of service of this Notice, The Municipal Council of the City of Edmonton intends to pass a Bylaw that the site legally described as:

Plan RN49, Lots 5 and 6

Excepting thereat all mines and minerals.

Title No. 982 087 389

and located at 10141 - 95 Street and containing the original circa 1914 building known as the Hecla Block located on the site be designated a MUNICIPAL HISTORIC RESOURCE under Section 22 of the Historical Resources Act, as amended from time to time.

AND TAKE FURTHER NOTICE THAT the Municipal Council of the City of Edmonton has appointed the General Manager of the Planning and Development Department to implement matters arising from the issuance of the Notice of Intention to Designate a Municipal Historic Resource.

DATED thisday of1999

______

City Clerk, Agent for

The City of Edmonton

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The above Notice is addressed to the owner of, or person with a legal interest in the resource named which the Municipal Council of the City of Edmonton (hereinafter referred to as The Council) intends to designate, by Bylaw, as a Municipal Historic Resource under Section 22 of The Historical Resources Act.

EFFECT OF NOTICE

This Notice of Intention protects the historic resource named in it for 120 days from the date it was served on you. During these 120 days NO PERSON MAY DESTROY, DISTURB, ALTER, RESTORE OR REPAIR A MUNICIPAL HISTORIC RESOURCE OR REMOVE ANY HISTORIC OBJECT FROM IT unless they have written approval of the Council or person appointed by the Council for the purpose.

The Council or the person appointed by the Council, in its or their absolute discretion, may refuse to grant an approval or may make the approval subject to such conditions as it or he considers appropriate.

Although there is no right of appeal as such against designation as a Municipal Historic Resource, you are not precluded at any time from writing to the Council, claiming that the site should not or should cease to be designated, on the grounds that it is not in fact of special architectural or historical interest and any such claim with the evidence supporting it, will be carefully considered.

You may also apply by originating notice to any judge of the Court of Queen's Bench for an Order shortening the 120 days of protection.

After 120 days the Notice ceases to have any effect, unless the Council has revoked it sooner, or the court has shortened the period, or unless the Council has passed a Bylaw designating the resource permanently.

Attachment 1 - Page 1 of 2

Attachment 2

Location of the Hecla Block, 10140 – 95 Street.

LOCATION PLAN

Attachment 2 - Page 1 of 1

Attachment 3

Photographs of the Hecla Block.

HECLA BLOCK

c.1914

10141 – 95 Street

Attachment 3 - Page 1 of 1

Attachment 4

Heritage Planner’s Summary of Historical and Architectural Information.

BUILDING NAME AND ADDRESS - Hecla Block

10141 - 95 Street

Register of Historic Resources in Edmonton - “A” List

RECOMMENDATION

The Hecla Block is recommended for designation as a Municipal Historic Resource because of the historical and architectural significance of the building. The building is among the first generation of apartment buildings in Edmonton and is symbolic of Edmonton’s rapid, pre-WWI residential development.

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY

Style/Type

The Hecla Block belongs to Edmonton's first generation of apartment buildings. John Johnson, who was born in Skagafirde, Iceland, was its original builder and owner. He arrived in Canada in 1876, as part of a wave of Icelandic immigrants who were spurred by political upheaval, catastrophic weather, and volcanic eruptions. 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 been demolished, and many lower-income residents in the area now live in buildings that 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.

Design

The Hecla Block was designed by David Hardie and John Martland and 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 stringcourses 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 wall uses 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).

Construction

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 have proceeded quickly, since the Hecla Block and its tenants were listed in the municipal directory of 1915.

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.

Designer/Builder

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 Association 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.

CULTURAL HISTORY

Historical Association

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.

Historical Pattern

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.

CONTEXT

Landscape/Site

There are no significant or recognizable landscape features or building/site relationships.

Neighbourhood

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. It is zoned RA8 (Area 1) Medium Rise Apartment District and is situated in an area of mixed use zones including industrial, low rise apartment and retail/wholesale to the north and west; industrial and multi-unit dwelling zones to the east, and industrial, single family and other residential zones to the immediate south.

The Hecla Block is located in the Boyle Street/McCauley area, to the south of the Jasper East Block/Old Towne Market area and one block north of the Riverdale area. The Hecla Block site is considered to be a prime residential real estate location, just east of the city’s first business district along 97 Street; however, it is also one half-block from the Corrections Services of Canada facility.

Visual/Symbolic Importance

The Hecla Block is an important landmark in the east-central portion of Edmonton. Standing conspicuously on the axis of 101A Avenue, it provides a strong link between the Jasper East Block and a reasonably intact historic residential enclave to the south. In addition to the Tremont, the area between the Hecla and the North Saskatchewan River contains a number of early single-family dwellings and St. Boniface Church, a Roman Catholic Church that was originally built by the congregation of the House of Israel Synagogue. (This area originally had a large Jewish population.) The RCMP barracks at 9530 - 101A Avenue (begun in 1912) provide a link between the Hecla and the Jasper East Block. (The Moderne style gasoline station at the corner of 101A Avenue and Jasper Avenue is an exotic survivor in this area; more mundane, commercial buildings stand at 9523 and 9535 Jasper Avenue.)

INTEGRITY

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. 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 casings remain in place, as do the transoms over the entrances to the suites.

In 1994, the building was extensively damaged by fire and since, has been exposed to the ravages of the elements and time. The fire destroyed most of the interior and the roof leaving behind significant character defining elements, which were mostly masonry components.

In 1999, the structural stabilization and reinforcement required to the interior commenced in order to proceed with the exterior rehabilitation and conservation of the historic fabric.

Attachment 4 - Page 1 of 5