In the words of Todd Babiak, our old central library “is one of the icons of a lost Edmonton, a phantom Edmonton, a victim of the boom-and-bust psychology that has defined the city since its earliest days.”

Our little slice of California, with its bright stucco and red tiles, was a curio to anyone who passed by and unique in a way most Edmonton buildings couldn’t dream of being. Now another glass high-rise will replace it.

2021 turned out to be a bad year for Edmonton’s built heritage. Gone with it was our “Shade of Expo ‘67.”

Building a make-work road over the sandy hoodoos of Dawson Park sounded simple enough. Instead it resulted in Council in-fighting, five years of unending construction, and political suicide.

In our rush to save the Ring Houses we’ve forgotten two others…

If you drive out to the site today, you’d be hard pressed to find the signs of cultural genocide. Where it happened doesn’t look special; it could be ‘Anywhere, Alberta.’ But long ago it was once home to the Edmonton Indian Residential School.

Despite their best efforts, an impassioned community couldn’t save this important piece of Edmonton’s German history.

This ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ piece of history clings to the monolithic walls of Commerce Place.

To some it’s a Modernist masterpiece. To others a “12-storey middle finger to the legislature.” Whatever you think, you won’t have much longer to argue — this tower’s reached the end of the line.

In a penny wise, pound foolish move, the University of Alberta demolishes its last tangible link to the campus’ humble beginnings.