The Archibald Block
10470 Whyte Avenue
Originally: “94 Whyte Avenue West”
Architects: Wilson & Herald of Strathcona
Constructed: 1909
Seymour Archibald had come to the North-West Territories in 1898. Something of a young genius, the Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia native was educated at Halifax Academy, Dalhousie University, and New York City’s Bellevue Medical College. Graduating by age twenty-two, he decided to try his luck in Strathcona. At the time there were only nine other doctors in the Greater-Edmonton Area.
Almost immediately, Archibald took a profound interest in railway safety. His particular focus may have been the result of an incident he dealt with shortly after his arrival, where a Calgary & Edmonton line worker had a leg severed by a locomotive. Whatever the cause, the doctor devoted much of his efforts to the field. Quickly “known among railmen,” Canadian Pacific hired him in 1899 to serve as its District Medical Officer.
Like many though, Archibald fancied himself something of a real-estate mogul and scooped up the odd lot or two where he could. By 1909 he was the baron of a small fiefdom, hugging the corners of what was then First Street West and Whyte Avenue West. It was prime land only a block away from Strathcona’s core.
One of his holdings eventually caught the eye of the Dominion Government. A deal was struck and in May 1909 he parted with it for $10,000 — the plot would come to house the Southside Post Office. With the modern equivalent of a quarter-million dollars, Archibald must've figured it was about time he got to work on his own building. Construction began that June. It’d be one of the first in a new breed.
Fire was the scourge of every small Albertan town in the early Twentieth Century. Wood construction obviously didn’t lend itself to being a good flame retardant and there were very real fears that entire town centres built of timber were an inevitable powder keg. That's why, in 1907, Strathcona Town Council brought in a new bylaw amendment. The “special building code established in 1902 concerning buildings in the business section of town” was expanded and all new structures constructed on Whyte Avenue would be of solid brick construction.
Even still, pyrophobia hounded Strathcona Council. The doctor’s “modern brick” building served as practical case study in the bylaw’s application and any perceived faults were scrutinized. “A brief discussion was launched by Alderman Donnan about the brick veneered cornices in the new Archibald Block, which he did not think was in accordance with the fire bylaw,” the Edmonton Journal reported. “Others took a similar view. The City Engineer stated that he could not see how serious objection could be taken as the cornices were not walls. The matter dropped there.”
Architecturally, the Archibald Block symbolizes this weird pubescent stage in Strathcona’s story. Its vernacular reflects a “rare example of a transitional architectural style where the scale is reminiscent of Strathcona’s early Boomtown architecture (one storey) but the masonry construction method was a precursor to the grander, multi-storey, brick, Edwardian commercial architecture” of the pre-war boom.
By early September work had wrapped up. In all, Archibald’s handiwork was estimated to have cost $13,000. In the Journal’s opinion it was a “handsome building.” Although provisions were made for a second storey, none was added.
In its earliest years, druggists, clothiers, jewellers, and plumbers were the Archibald’s primary tenants. Its most notable came in 1912, however. That’s when Morie & Company moved in. A confectionary and fresh fruit wholesaler, it was founded by brothers and recent Lebanese immigrants, John Assad and Fred Assad Morie.
While the two were only in their early twenties, it was clear they knew how to run a business. Far and wide they became known as the “Fruit Kings.” Their selection was good and their quality even better. Every summer was marked by the extravagant outdoor displays they doctored, where produce literally flowed out onto the sidewalks — it once resulted in a fine for public obstruction.
The two brothers worked out of the Archibald for the better part of eight years. During the Great War, while Fred served overseas, John ran the store alone. Ultimately, they decided to try their fortunes elsewhere and in 1922 sold the business to head north. They opened a small trading post at Fort Smith and Fort Fitzgerald. Both Morie boys returned to Edmonton in time. Fred retired from the family business in 1939. John followed in 1950.
Fred had been a prominent activist and strong community advocate. Through his efforts alone, he transformed a derelict community dump along Saskatchewan Drive into “a beautiful park with level greenery in summer, park benches and trees, and a 70-foot steel flagpole.” For his efforts the City christened the area after him in 1965. Sadly, John had passed five years prior. Fred followed in 1981.
As a statement of significance later wrote, through the Archibald Block there’s a tangible link “with Alberta’s early Arabic-speaking business community.” The Mories’ experience “is a significant part of Alberta’s history and the Archibald Block reflects the important contributions of this immigrant merchant community to Alberta’s growth and development.”
As for Dr. Archibald himself? The man lived an equally successful life. In addition to his work with the C.P.R. he was hired by the Northern Alberta Railways to serve as its Chief Medical Officer. A distinguished Great War veteran and frequent Alberta Medical Association Vice-President, Seymour was also a founding member of both the Mayfair Golf and Country Club, and the Masonic Order’s Acacia Lodge.
As the result of a heart seizure, the doctor passed on March 5th, 1939. “Through the sudden death of Dr. Seymour Archibald, Edmonton has lost one of its oldest physicians who won the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens to a marked degree,” the Journal eulogized. “He will be greatly missed by the employees of [the railways], with whom his work brought into such close touch, and by all who were so fortunate as to number him among their friends.”
Flash forward to December 2020. It’s been eighty-one years since Archibald died, and one-hundred-and-eleven since he built his small block. Strathcona’s a different place. Eaten whole by Edmonton, it’s no longer an independent city. The tallest things around aren’t church spires, but concrete hotels and condos standing a dozen-floors high. Whyte Avenue itself isn’t the beleaguered ex-main street of a once thriving town, but instead the city’s de facto urban retail strip. And as for Seymour’s building? It no longer lays at the far west-end of Strathcona’s business district; it now lies at its centre.
The area’s changed and not unreasonably a project’s been put forward for the Archibald’s storied site. What’s planned? A nine-storey, mixed-use mid-rise tower dubbed “The Baron.” Wexford Developments, the company hoping to get the proposal off the ground, have a previous Whyte Ave. venture in their portfolio; the recently completed six-storey Raymond Block located directly opposite of the doctor’s old building.
Wexford cite’s the would-be tower as Alberta’s first “Mass Timber Construction” building. “Mass Timber Construction, which replaces concrete with laminated wood beams and columns, is the most sustainable method of construction in the world,” the company writes. “Over the life of this building alone, it will have the same emissions control effect as taking over 2 million cars off the road for one year… It will be a beacon of sustainability and showcase the future of building in Canada.”
It’d certainly be a promising project, one any Edmontonian should be proud of… if it weren’t for the planned demolition of a century-and-ten old historic site. That’s been the main hurdle Wexford has had to clear. The Archibald rests in the middle of a Provincial Historic Area, valued for “its representation of the pre-World War One commercial and social development of one of Alberta's most significant early communities… The district also possesses heritage value for the architectural richness and integrity of its historic buildings.”
So, how can they then, in good faith, justify the demolition of one of those buildings? Well, public perception cuts both ways and to some the Archibald is nothing more than “old.” Sure, it’s ancient, but historic? Local writer Tim Querengesser best explained this feeling, opining that the “issue is that the Archibald, with its very large awning, evokes approximately zero historic feeling as I look at it or walk past it. It looks like an anodyne retail box like so many others, dominated by its awning rather than architectural features or signs of patina.”
That’s a fair critique. Frankly, it’s not a standout building, at least architecturally. It’s small, it’s plain, it doesn’t have that “look” people think of with exposed brick, keystones, or cornice. But does that mean we should tear it down? I’d argue not. The preoccupation of architectural beauty is a skin-deep assessment of a building’s worth. Story, not style, should be the judge of value.
More-often-than-not, a building's sense of worth comes from the stories enshrined within those walls. The Archibald, while not the most beautiful building around, is more than the sum of its physical parts. Its connection to one of Northern Alberta’s first professional doctors, its place as the home to some of Alberta’s first Lebanese businessmen and community leaders, and its transitionary, if plain, built form, would be more than enough to warrant a designation in any other circumstance — other protected sites have got theirs for much less.
But it’s not just that. Archibald’s block also has an intrinsic value in its place on Whyte Avenue. The Ave.’s a strip celebrated not just for its history, but for its collection of diverse, funky businesses. A continued existence of the Archibald and buildings like it has fostered that, with their small-scale retail units, lower-rent, and personable size. As area councillor Ben Henderson explained, “keeping that shape and form, the kind of people-sized, human-sized, scale of Whyte Avenue, I think, is very important to what makes it work. My fear is that if we undo that core piece of what makes Whyte Avenue work, which is that historic core, we could end up killing the golden goose.”
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Sources:
“Sad Accident,” Edmonton Bulletin, December 8, 1898.
“Local,” Edmonton Bulletin, June 12, 1899.
“Obituary,” The Nova Scotia Medical Bulletin Vol. 18, No. 5 (1939): 281.
“Big Building Year For Strathcona,” Edmonton Journal, March 26, 1909.
“New Armouries and Post Office,” Edmonton Journal, May 10, 1909.
“Await Amendment To Fire Limit Law,” Edmonton Journal, May 21, 1909.
“Locals,” Edmonton Bulletin, June 15, 1909.
“Feeling Not Very Strong For Union,” Edmonton Journal, August 11, 1909.
“Personal Notes,” Saturday News, September 4, 1909.
“South Siders Shipping Store Supplies North,” Edmonton Bulletin, June 15, 1921.
“Morie Public Benefactor But He Is Fined $1,” Edmonton Bulletin, September 2, 1922.
“Fred A. Morie,” Edmonton Bulletin, July 24, 1923.
“Here and There,” Edmonton Journal, May 6, 1932.
“Pioneer Medico, Dr. Archibald Dies,” Edmonton Journal, May 5, 1939.
“Former North Trader Dies In City,” Edmonton Journal, September 29, 1960.
“Dump Now Beautiful Park,” Edmonton Journal, March 19, 1965.
“City Pair’s Pioneering Recalled,” Edmonton Journal, January 20, 1975.
“Fred Morie Had Park named After Him,” Edmonton Journal, December 16, 1981.
Jeremy Thompson, “Councillor Opposes Proposed Condo Tower on Whyte Avenue,” C.T.V. News Edmonton, December 22, 2020,
https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/councillor-opposes-proposed-condo-tower-on-whyte-avenue-1.5242539.
Tom Monto and Randy Lawrence, Old Strathcona — Edmonton’s Southside Roots, 2nd ed. (Edmonton: Alhambra Books, 2011), 227.
“LDA20-0216 Strathcona The Baron Rezoning,” City of Edmonton, accessed December 24, 2020,
“The Baron,” Wexford Developments, accessed December 24, 2020,
“Old Strathcona,” Alberta Register of Historic Places, accessed December 24, 2020,
https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4665-1350.
Tim Querengesser, “Archibald or Baron? Some Thoughts on Density and History,” Tim Querengesser, December 18, 2020,
“Wilson, Arthur Gordon,” Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada: 1800-1950, accessed December 22, 2020, http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/394.
