Congratulations to St. Albert city council for designating St. Albert Place a municipal historic resource! Designed by Alberta’s best-known architect, this building is our community’s signature example of modern construction, a striking architectural statement that integrates the sinuous lines of our topography and waterways into its design.
In many respects, the decision to build St. Albert Place was an audacious one, and represents our city’s maturation from a residential appendage of Edmonton to an autonomous municipality. It established St. Albert as a regional centre for the performing arts and has remained the vibrant heart of an otherwise listless downtown.
Perhaps if previous city councils had been more forward-looking and had sought to conserve the compelling, distinctive architecture that once defined our main street and has been almost entirely obliterated, we wouldn’t be agonizing over how to reanimate our downtown core, but would instead be enjoying the satisfactions of a unique heritage district. After all, it’s no coincidence that the two most culturally vibrant, commercially robust urban areas in Alberta — Old Strathcona in Edmonton and Stephen Avenue Mall in Calgary — are also two of the finest heritage districts in our province. Even smaller urban centres like Lacombe have benefitted immeasurably from the charms of their historic downtowns.
St. Albert has a number of highly significant — and perhaps largely unknown — modern buildings that complement the rich early settlement history embodied on Mission Hill and in Grain Elevator Park. Their recognition and protection can only enrich our urban landscape and our civic culture. The great Canadian urban theorist Jane Jacobs said it best: “New ideas need old buildings.”
Matthew Wangler, St. Albert
