Look but don’t touch — it’s historic.
That’s the message city council broadcast Friday when it officially designated St. Albert Place a municipal historic resource.
Mayor Nolan Crouse and city councillors held a special council meeting in front of city hall to celebrate the building’s 25th birthday, unanimously approving the designation.
The decision means the building’s iconic brick and mortar framework will remain intact and unaltered for future generations, ensuring its place as the administrative and cultural heart of the city.
“We are going to turn this building from iconic to iconic plus historic,” said Crouse. “It is the heart of our downtown, a source of pride for our community and is essentially a work of art in itself.”
To commemorate the event St. Albert’s city council from 1984 also attended. Former mayor Richard Fowler had nothing but praise for the designation.
“It is a fantastic day to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of St. Albert Place,” Fowler said. “We go back more than 25 years to the original planning and decision to construct this magnificent structure, which will be named a historic site in St. Albert today, I understand, and I think it’s only fitting to do so.”
But the city had a second celebration that day, a proclamation naming June 12 Douglas Cardinal Day, for the architect who designed the building.
Cardinal, who still has family in the area, was invited to celebrate the occasion with the city. He toured the halls of the building for more than an hour before making a speech to city staff and residents.
The soft-spoken architect was amazed at how similar the building looked after 25 years.
“It’s been a while,” Cardinal said as he traced his fingers along the building’s curvilinear walls during the tour.
He recalled how the building became a foundation for his career, a trademark of his style that eventually led former prime minister Pierre Trudeau to choose him to design the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Quebec.
Cardinal said St. Albert Place was the first building designed using computers. Besides the technical challenges that created for his team in 1984, he remained impressed with how the community came together to fund the $20 million project.
“I think that this was an extremely good example of how a community can work together to accomplish a real strong vision,” Cardinal said to residents during a speech. “You actually took the responsibility of funding this vision for your children and grandchildren, which I think is just amazing.”
Cardinal, who turns 75 this year, said he has no plans to retire any time soon and added that St. Albert Place will always be the foundation of his work.
“It all comes from here and I must say, from the bottom of my heart, all of you, thank you.”
