Description of Historic Place

The Metals Building is a rectangular three-storey brick rectangular warehouse with a distinctive chamfered entrance facade located on a rectangular corner lot in the heart of Edmonton's pre-World War One warehouse district.

Heritage Value

History/Association: This warehouse built in 1914 to house a plumbing wholesale supply business is important as representative of Edmonton's emerging role as "gateway to the north" and the pre-World War One era economic boom. It is equally significant for its association with leading entrepreneurs of that era including owner William Roper Hull, an industrialist, real estate and meat packing entrepreneur who established the Gurney Standard Metal Company Limited in 1910 which later became Metals Ltd. The Metals Ltd. Board of Directors included A.E. Cross, James Loughheed and R.B. Bennett, all prominent in Alberta's business and public life. Metals Ltd. and its successor companies occupied the building until 1954.

Architecture: The Metals Building was designed by Magoon and MacDonald, a well-known Edmonton architectural firm, who also designed Old St. Stephens College, McDougall Methodist Church and the Public Library. Herbert Alton Magoon (1863 - 1941) designs were influencedby his Chicago architectrual tarinning. George Heath MacDonald (1883 - 1961) worked originally as draftsman for Magoon and later returned to school and qualified as an architect and Magoon's partner. The Metals Building displays the competent design approach of Magoon and MacDonald including: balanced chamfered entrance way with tripartite second and third floor windows, cast stone belt coursing, regular patterns of bays and windows and functional expression of facade for stairways and utility rooms.

Landmark: As the last remaining historic warehouse west of 104 Street, the Metals Building links the east and west side of 104 Street and provides continuity to reinforce the urban character of the street.

Source: City of Edmonton (Bylaw: 13215)

Character-Defining Elements

The form and massing of the building including the design and materials of the principal elevations such as:
- Chamfered facade entrance with tripartite double-hung windows on the second and third levels;
- Strong solid base plinth with cast stone sill course banding at first floor;
- Rhythm of windows in the recessed bays between brick pilasters
- Corbelled brick dentils and metal cornice;
- Jack knife doors with steel flat plate below each door;
- Cast stone panel above the door 'METALS LTD. ERECTED 1914';
- Two rose and leaf deigns cast in stone on either side of the door entrance;
- Timber door entrance, transom and sidelights;
- Original painted parapet signs;
- Circular opening or plate at basement level westerly end;
- The expression of functional relationships through window placement, in particular the interior stairwell.