Description of Historic Place

The Armstrong Block consists of a four-storey mixed-use brick building on a city lot in a mid-block location, in the downtown neighbourhood that was the centre of Edmonton's pre-World War One warehouse area.

Heritage Value

The 1912 Armstrong Block is significant because of its association with the early development of Edmonton's warehouse district, an area of the downtown that accommodated the city's industrial and warehousing needs until 1913. The Armstrong Block is one of a collection of surviving, important warehouse area buildings that attest to the rapid expansion of the city prior to World War One.

The Armstrong Block is also significant because of its architecture, which is a prominent example of an Edwardian-era combination of commercial and residential functions that incorporates high quality materials and construction. The lower portions of the building were designed for the needs of wholesale businesses while the upper floors were subdivided into apartments and offices, which was an unusual combination of occupancies for the time. The structure is steel frame for all floors, which is also relatively unusual for the time, since most Edmonton residential structures did not use steel framing past the first floor.

The Armstrong Block is also significant because of its association with designer David Hardie (1882-1930), who joined the Alberta Association of Architects in 1920. In partnership with John Martland (1878-1957), Hardie designed a number of other similar commercial and residential buildings in Edmonton.

Source: City of Edmonton (Bylaw 12621)

Character-Defining Elements

The Edwardian-era architecture of the building is expressed in character-defining elements such as:
- form, scale and massing;
- red pressed-brick facade construction with projecting brick pilasters that are rusticated at the ground floor level;
- cast stone detailing, including horizontal stone bands, sills and lintels;
- central double-door entrance with elaborate arched cast stone lintel composition;
- fenestration, including three rows of wood double-hung windows at the second, third and fourth floor levels on all four facades;
- two, large, main floor wood-framed, glazed storefronts with prism glass transoms;
- upper and lower full-width pressed-metal cornices and pressed-metal garland pilaster capitals;
- elevated front parapet with arched pediment and cast stone 'A' insignia;
- a painted sign on the upper east wall;
- protective roof structure above the lower level entrances on the rear elevation