The Hudson’s Bay Co. Store
Jasper Avenue at 102nd & 103rd Streets
Architects: Moody & Moore of Winnipeg
Constructed: 1938-39 / 1949 / 1954
Designation: Municipal Historic Resource
For many Edmontonians the end of the Great Depression was signalled on December 28th, 1937. The Hudson’s Bay Company had announced its plans for a massive, $1,000,000 store in the heart of downtown. It was an unrivalled expenditure that signalled a renewed vigour in company, city, and country alike.
The Hudson’s Bay’s retail arm had a presence in Edmonton since its earliest days as a settlement. As a village turned into a city, the Company’s presence grew in tandem, and their store at Jasper and Third had to be “enlarged or rebuilt no fewer than nine times to take care of the growing business.” An unsightly, architecturally inconstant building was the result. Perhaps self-conscious of the brand’s ugly duckling, or perhaps no longer wanting to deal with unlevelled floors, their redevelopment would grace Edmonton with one of Canada’s most striking stores.
When construction began in Spring 1938, the process was arduous. The old building was to stay open in part during the work to provide no discomfort to patrons. So, the site was “divided into three sections, and as each section was knocked down and built up again, the other two were used for ‘business as usual.’ This naturally necessitated a great deal of moving of departments from place to place. But all moves were made overnight, or on the afternoons of early closing days, each department was set up in its new position all ready for business the next morning.” For the most part, construction went remarkably smooth, with one exception. A southwestern portion of the building, dating to 1905, was so thoroughly over-constructed — containing two thousand tons of reinforced concrete — that it had to be blasted “away with small doses of high explosives.”
More than 20,000 people would rush through the building’s doors on opening day, November 14th, 1939. It was an astonishing number given that it was roughly equivalent to one-fifth of the city’s population — and the fact that nothing was for sale. To the Edmonton Bulletin, it looked like patrons “entering the city’s fairgrounds on a summer afternoon.” The Edmonton Journal likewise described its opening as a fitting “climax to 145 years of service in this city.”
For a building that symbolically reflected the end of a decade of hardship, its style couldn’t have been more on point. The striking use of chamfered corners, speed lines, stainless steel doors and window frames, glass block, hideaway awnings, and a mix of black Quebec granite and Manitoban Tyndall, perfectly captured a sense of futuristic optimism. Six hand-carved reliefs were its defining feature. Bearing the visage of the Nonsuch, a York Boat, a grizzled fur-trader, and settler, they depicted “the epic of western pioneering in which the company played so important a part.” Each corner featured the arms of the “Bay,” surmounting “incised inscriptions — one to do with founding of the Company, the other to do with the founding of Fort Edmonton.”
Inside, customers were met with “an entrancing array of colours… velvety creams, sky blues, delicate pinks, tones of brown, inviting burgundies, enchanting greens, and a profusion of other charming hues.” Everything was “deeply upholstered” and waiting lounges made for a “cheery rendezvous spots for patrons.” “Spacious stairways, easy-to-shop-at counters, carpeted floors, sanitary washrooms, wide aisles, helpful directional panels, and a host of other energy-saving conveniences” made sure that shopping was a pleasurable experience.
Edmonton’s store proved a resounding success for the Company. Within a decade of its opening, work was already underway on an expansion. In the words of Mayor Harry Ainlay, the 36,000 square-foot, $500,000 third floor addition was “indicative of the ever growing importance of Edmonton. It is with great satisfaction that the Commissioners and I have learned of their major development.” But Edmonton’s oil-boom wealth didn’t stop the Bay there. As tens of thousands of new citizens flooded the city, another expansion was announced in 1954. Costing $3,250,000, the 192,000 square-foot annex more than doubled the building’s size, making it one of the largest department stores in the Dominion.
A changing retail landscape, economic slowdown, and struggling core brought an end to the prosperous years of the downtown Bay by the late 1980s. The Company’s decision to open a new branch at nearby Kingsway Mall in August 1988 only further hindered the flagship’s performance. Selection at the downtown store dwindled rapidly and its size followed suit. By 1990 they occupied only 53,000 square-feet.
Stewart Green Properties had purchased the old store outright in 1987, and with the Hudson’s Bay’s shrinking presence, decided to redevelop the aging building. They transformed it into the “Hudson’s Bay Centre,” an open concept mall with space for one-hundred retailers. A simplified Bay store was its centrepiece. Recognizing the structure’s historic value, a Municipal Historic Resource designation was applied for, and despite reservations from some on Council — Alderman Bruce Campbell was vocal in his dislike of the store, saying “I’m not at all enamoured with it. I don’t really think it’s a very imposing building” — it was approved in 1989. Formally protected were the building’s principal 1939 facades. The later third floor addition was not. $1,600,000 in concessions were agreed upon.
However, Stewart Green’s concept never took off. Vacancy rates sat around fifty percent and it was hard attracting patrons. “Frankly, the leasing has been very tough,” President Ron Renaud admitted. In 1993, only two years after the centre’s grand reopening, its death knell sounded. The Bay was abandoning ship. After purchasing the struggling Woodward’s chain they decided to finally leave their Jasper Avenue property. They’d instead take up Woodward’s vacated space at Edmonton Centre Mall. When they completely pulled out in 1995, it brought an end to one-hundred-and-two years of service in that location.
The old building languished until the mid-2000s, when it was announced the University of Alberta had purchased it. As University Provost Carl Amrhein remembered, “we needed space, we needed it fast, and we were just at the beginning of what turned out to be a fierce cost escalation in the construction industry.” So, the almost empty department store, with its central location, direct Light Rail connection, and large unobstructed floorplates was a perfect choice. With funding granted from all three levels of government, work on “Enterprise Square” began in early 2007.
With the completion of a new fourth floor, twenty-six meter central atrium, restored Italian Terrazzo flooring, and the installation of “modern technology, including video units, drop-down projection screens, wireless internet, and outlets for laptops,” the refurbished building opened to students in September 2007. “I’ve made bad Star Trek jokes about that name, Enterprise Square,” columnist Paula Simons wrote, but with “its clean, stark lines, its soaring height, its high contrast white and dark green colour scheme, you feel as if you’ve been catapulted into some sci-fi movie. Or a painting by Mondrian.”
An official public opening took place that January. “This building has been an anchor for the history of Edmonton, and now it’s going to be an anchor for the future of Edmonton,” Dave Hancock, Minister of Alberta Health & Wellness declared. It now houses the University’s Faculty of Extension, Alumni Affairs, and two units of the School of Business.
Image Gallery:
Sources:
H.H.G. Moody, “The Hudson’s Bay Company, Edmonton, Alberta,” Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Journal Vol. 17, No.2 (1940), https://dalspace.library.dal.ca//handle/10222/74468
“Edmonton House 1939,” The Beaver Vol. 261, No.1 (1938),
https://canadashistory.partica.online/canadas-history/the-beaver-june-1938/flipbook/46/
“The Hudson’s Bay Company’s New Edmonton Store,” The Beaver Vol. 270, No.3 (1939)
https://canadashistory.partica.online/canadas-history/the-beaver-december-1939/flipbook/26/
“Hudson’s Bay to Build $1,000,000 Store Here,” Edmonton Journal, December 28, 1937.
“New Edmonton $1,000,000 Hudson’s Bay Store completed for Service,” Edmonton Journal, November 15, 1939.
“Hudson’s Bay Company Plans Add Storey To Store Here,” Edmonton Journal, February 3, 1948.
“Extension to H.B.C. Store Estimated to Cost $500,000,” Edmonton Journal, February 4, 1948.
“Award $3,250,000 Contract For Addition To “Bay” Store,” Edmonton Journal, July 8, 1954.
“Mayor Praises Collection Of Presents For Needy,” Edmonton Journal, December 15, 1955.
“Downtown Bay Store Rumoured Sold,” Edmonton Journal, January 21, 1987.
“Downtown Bay To Cut Store Size,” Edmonton Journal, January 19, 1989.
John Geiger, “Aldermen Pick City’s 10 Ugliest Buildings,” Edmonton Journal, September 5, 1989.
Ron Chalmers, “Renovated Bay Opens Downtown,” Edmonton Journal, March 14, 1991.
Jac MacDonald, “Edmonton’s Quiet Commercial Landlord,” Edmonton Journal, July 13, 1991.
Paula Simons, “Once Derelict Bay Building On Its Way To Becoming Downton Fem,” Edmonton Journal, August 21, 2007.
Keith Gerein, “History Repeats For Former Bay Clerk Turned U of A Dean,” Edmonton Journal, September 2, 2007.
Kieth Gerein, “Enterprise Square Opens Officially In Landmark bat Building,” Edmonton Journal, January 16, 2008.
City of Edmonton, Bylaw 9122, Being a Bylaw to Designate the Facades of the Hudson's Bay Company Department Store as a Municipal Historic Resource (September 26, 1989),
“Edmonton,” Hudson’s Bay Company Heritage Foundation, Accessed November 14, 2020,
https://www.hbcheritage.ca/places/places-other-institutions/edmonton
Tim Morwitz, Art Deco Architecture Across Canada: Stories of the Country’s Buildings Between the Two World Wars, (Toronto: Glue Inc., 2017), 181
