Description of Historic Place

The Jasper Block consists of a three storey Edwardian era mixed use brick building situated on an urban lot on the north side of Jasper Avenue in central downtown Edmonton

Heritage Value

The Jasper Block is significant for its architecture, being one of the last remaining turn of the twentieth century buildings left on downtown Jasper Avenue and is a visual link to the City's early and rapid development. The building's architectural form and traditional high glazed store frontages is typical of many early Edmonton Edwardian era combined commercial and residential developments.

The Jasper Block is also significant for its association with John Kelly, one of Edmonton's early typical successful businessmen who came from mixed professional backgrounds and found success in real estate. Starting as a blacksmith in Edmonton in 1902, but moved into real estate he developed and built commercial buildings, of which a few still remain as significant historic resources in the City.

It is also significant for its association with the building's architect, Hopkins and Wright who were responsible for the design of other early commercial buildings.

Source: City of Edmonton, Planning and Development Department.

Character-Defining Elements

The building's turn of the century Edwardian era commercial architecture is expressed in character defining elements such as:
- form, scale and massing,
- red pressed brick facade construction with stone trims and accents,
- three tall glazed main floor wood storefronts with recessed entrances with large display windows and multi-paned reeded transom lights,
- recessed front door entrance to upper floors framed with wood panelling and timber piers,
- continuous metal cornice above storefront with paired brackets every four to five feet,
- frontage broken into four bays separated by five simple brick pilasters with rough stone caps,
- two timber sash windows in each recessed bay (sixteen in total) with sills being part of the horizontal stone string courses,
- brick voussoirs window lintels stone parged lintels,
- recessed rough stacked header bond brick panels in-between first and second floor windows,
- upper parapet with decorative dentilation, arcaded, corbelling, projecting piers and broken parapet brickwork;
- stone nameplate, Jasper Block, in parapet framed by rough header bricks,
- stone,parged parapet capping,
- upper metal cornice running width of the building.

Side and rear elements include:
- arched sash windows and openings and doors with transom lights,
- stone sills,
- side light wells,
- Red pressed brick facade construction.

Remaining original elements of the interior, such as:
- central skylight and glass block floor skylights,
- decorative metal ceiling at in commercial units,
- decorative wood ornamentation,
- metal structural elements.