{"id":1222,"date":"2013-05-31T15:25:22","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T21:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/?p=1222"},"modified":"2013-05-31T15:31:07","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T21:31:07","slug":"edmoderntown-part-v-postscript","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/","title":{"rendered":"EDMODERNTOWN (Part V): Postscript"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: The final part of Trevor Boddy’s essay, EDMODERNTOWN: Four Factors Shaping Edmonton Architecture, which was initially published in the\u00a0Capital Modern<\/a>\u00a0catalogue from the Art Gallery of Alberta, 2007 . Click here for Parts\u00a0I<\/a>,\u00a0II<\/a>,\u00a0III<\/a>, and IV<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In Memoriam<\/p>\n

I thought it useful to combine my training as a historian of architecture with my current role as architecture critic to propose the best Edmonton building for each of the decades covered in this guidebook. 1930s, 1940s, 50s, and 50s. My list of chosen buildings is no different now than it would have been when I wrote Modern Architecture in Alberta in the early 1980s. What is stunning, however, is that every single building on my list has been demolished or compromised out of recognition. These brief pages note our fallen buildings, which also include our very best.<\/p>\n

With change and churn, every city loses buildings and gains them, more or less in tandem. This is not true of Edmonton\u2014the city stands out for conspicuously destroying its finest architecture, of leveling the best and leaving the worst. In my view, this is not an accident, but a manifestation of the boomtown mentality, where visual reminders of previous booms serve as portents of the end of the current boom, and we go out of our way to get rid of them, or inflict architectural plastic surgery on them so extensive that they lose their character. Here is my list, and I welcome your suggestions for others, or building currently threatened.<\/p>\n

Trevor Boddy
\n2007<\/p>\n

1930s<\/h2>\n

\"CM_guidebook_c_shafraazessay_Page_5_Image_0001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

T. Eaton Department Store (demolished)
\n101 Street at 102 A Avenue
\nNorthwood and Chivers Architects
\nEdmonton Archives EA 10-1797<\/p>\n

1940s<\/h2>\n

\"varscona-theatre-6184\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Varscona Theatre (demolished)
\nWhyte Avenue at 109 Street
\nRule Wynn and Rule Architects
\nProvincial Archives of Alberta PA2544.5<\/p>\n

1950s<\/h2>\n

\"tumblr_luzuacymk01qdt6jzo1_1280\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Edmonton City Hall (demolished)
\nSir Winston Churchill Square
\nDewar Stevenson and Stanley Architects
\nProvincial Archives of Alberta WS122.2<\/p>\n

1960s<\/h2>\n

\"EdmontonArtGallery-794124\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Edmonton Art Gallery (demolished)
\nSir Winston Churchill Square
\nBittorf and Wensley Architects
\nJohn Fulker<\/p>\n

1960s<\/h2>\n

\"Edmonton_Centennial_Library_A_crop\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Centennial Library
\nSir Winston Churchill Squre
\nMinsos Jamieson Vaitkunas
\nDavid Murray<\/p>\n

1960s<\/h2>\n

\"CM_guidebook_f_backsection_b_Page_26_Image_0001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"tumblr_lu05azv4NJ1qdt6jzo1_1280\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Central Pentecostal\u00a0Tabernacle (demolished)
\n112 Street at 107 Avenue
\nHemingway and Laubenthal Architects
\nJames Dow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: The final part of Trevor Boddy’s essay, EDMODERNTOWN: Four Factors Shaping Edmonton Architecture, which was initially published in the\u00a0Capital Modern\u00a0catalogue from the Art Gallery of Alberta, 2007 . Click here for Parts\u00a0I,\u00a0II,\u00a0III, and IV. In Memoriam I thought it useful to combine my training as a historian of architecture with my current roleContinue reading “EDMODERNTOWN (Part V): Postscript”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8111,"featured_media":1230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-culture","category-history"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEDMODERNTOWN (Part V): Postscript - Spacing Edmonton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Giang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/\",\"name\":\"EDMODERNTOWN (Part V): Postscript - Spacing Edmonton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/05\/City-Hall-20th-28-L.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-31T21:25:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-31T21:31:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/5c568d4ad3a9e6a81f55f1a6b7e94b5f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/05\/City-Hall-20th-28-L.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/05\/City-Hall-20th-28-L.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":578,\"caption\":\"Demolition of Edmonton's second City Hall. Courtesy City of Edmonton\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EDMODERNTOWN (Part V): Postscript\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Edmonton\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Edmonton Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/5c568d4ad3a9e6a81f55f1a6b7e94b5f\",\"name\":\"Paul Giang\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dad202f181ce90ee1809ba23cac7aa7?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dad202f181ce90ee1809ba23cac7aa7?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul Giang\"},\"description\":\"Paul Giang grew up exploring Edmonton's landscape, which led him to become an ecologist and urbanist. After studying in Montreal and India, he came back to Edmonton to rediscover and share what he loves about the city. Contact: paulgiang@spacing.ca\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/author\/paulgiang\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EDMODERNTOWN (Part V): Postscript - Spacing Edmonton","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Giang","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/","name":"EDMODERNTOWN (Part V): Postscript - Spacing Edmonton","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/05\/City-Hall-20th-28-L.jpg","datePublished":"2013-05-31T21:25:22+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-31T21:31:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/5c568d4ad3a9e6a81f55f1a6b7e94b5f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/05\/City-Hall-20th-28-L.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2013\/05\/City-Hall-20th-28-L.jpg","width":800,"height":578,"caption":"Demolition of Edmonton's second City Hall. Courtesy City of Edmonton"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/2013\/05\/31\/edmoderntown-part-v-postscript\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EDMODERNTOWN (Part V): Postscript"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/","name":"Spacing Edmonton","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Edmonton Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/5c568d4ad3a9e6a81f55f1a6b7e94b5f","name":"Paul Giang","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dad202f181ce90ee1809ba23cac7aa7?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dad202f181ce90ee1809ba23cac7aa7?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Paul Giang"},"description":"Paul Giang grew up exploring Edmonton's landscape, which led him to become an ecologist and urbanist. After studying in Montreal and India, he came back to Edmonton to rediscover and share what he loves about the city. Contact: paulgiang@spacing.ca","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/author\/paulgiang\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1224,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions\/1224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}