The Ring Houses
116th Street & Saskatchewan Drive
Architect: Wilson & Herrald of Strathcona, Cecil Scott Burgess
Constructed: 1911-1914
Demolished: 2022
Imagine this: you’re building a university campus from the ground up. Public transit’s in its infancy, the area around you is more nature reserve than neighbourhood, and the next town over has basically no suitable housing. What would you do? To Doctor Henry Marshall Tory, first President of the University of Alberta, the solution was stupidly simple. If he couldn’t get his professors to campus reliably, he’d just have “houses built on the perimeter of campus for himself and his senior professors.” It was an admittedly unorthodox solution, but Tory was an unorthodox thinker. The man had big ideas for his university and nothing was going to stop him from achieving them.
The first of these homes was completed in 1911. Belonging to Tory, it was a “spacious Edwardian dwelling, designed for a large family and at least two servants”. Reg Lister, a young contractor destined to become the University’s Superintendent of Resources, recalled that “Dr. Tory inspected the work every day driving around with his team of chestnut horses; a barn was built behind his home for his team and buggy.”
Over the coming four years, another nine homes were built. Wilson & Herrald, a venerable Strathconian firm, were responsible for the first four. Cecil S. Burgess, the University’s first and only Professor of Architecture, was responsible for the final seven. They all displayed an astute eye for detail. As Donald G. Wetherell writes, “these were two storey, three-bedroom houses with basements and featured floor plans that were widely popular in the English-speaking world… Bedrooms were placed on the second floor, and living areas were on the first, with a kitchen at the back looking out onto the garden. The exterior of the buildings featured locally-made brick on the first floor and wood shingle on the second, which conveyed a welcoming, picturesque mood.”
The Ring Houses stood alone on the northwest corner of campus, forming a horse-shaped crescent known as “University Circle”. It was a quiet community and it’s fair to say that when E.W. Sheldon, the first Professor of Mathematics, carved “the proof of Pythagoras’ theorem into the wet sidewalk of his residence” it was a major scandal.
Nothing much changed until spring, 1970. Up until then some of the homes had remained residences for the campus’ intellectuals. Others had been converted into offices, while others yet “housed stray parts of such departments as Music and Mathematics”. But that July, seven gave way to the wreckers ball. It had been decided that the land would be better served as a parkade. The remaining four residences, the original four, were converted into museum and staff space. It wasn’t some token of good faith to the more heritage minded — they were simply out of harm’s way and needed a use.
“One University employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said the [destroyed homes] were victims of the ‘plaque generation’ — those who thought history was best served by the erection of a plaque to commemorate demolished campus heritage.” Peter Taitt, then-Executive Assistant to the Vice-President of Administration, declared that “contrary to the outcry… we are not interested in tearing down all of the older buildings.”
For a time, it seemed that way. The 1970s and ‘80s saw a slew of restorations across campus. Athabasca, Assiniboia, and Pembina Halls were brought back from the brink, and the old Arts Building got a much needed renovation. But since then times have changed. Once again, the University’s ruled by the enlightened minds of the “plaque generation”.
After scraping by fifty years ago, campus heads have now decided to finish the job their forefathers started. The Ring Houses need to go, now more than ever apparently. We can all thank the brilliant brain-trust that is Jason Kenny’s United Conservative Party for that. A death by a thousand financial cuts means they can’t keep buildings that don’t “align with their current academic and fiscal plans.”
I’m a University of Alberta student. Normally I’d be damn proud to call myself one — I can’t say I am today. This week’s shown my school at its worst. It shows that they don’t care for their own history. If they did they wouldn’t be demolishing Canada’s oldest presidential residence. It shows they don’t care about being creative thinkers. If they did, they would’ve found some solution. It shows they don’t care about being transparent. If they did, it wouldn’t have taken disgruntled staff and Twitter sleuths to bring the homes’ impending doom to light. It shows they don’t care about being openly disdainful. If they did, they wouldn’t publicly baulk at any suggestion to save them. It shows they don’t care about being good neighbours. If they did, they wouldn’t have given Edmontonians only *three* days to find an answer to their problems.
But hey, maybe all’s not lost. Andrew Sharman, Vice-President of Facilities & Operations, boasted that the Ring Houses’ story will “live on in written histories as well as items that will be housed in the university's museum collection.” I’m sure they’ll put up a nice shiny plaque too…
Image Gallery:
Sources:
Cecil Scott Burgess, Donald G. Wetherell ed., “Architecture, Town Planning And Community: Selected Writings and Public Talks by Cecil Burgess 1909-1946” (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2005), XXXI.
Ellen Schoeck, “A Century of Campus Maps” (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2007), 11, Appendix.
“Residences Becomes Alumni House”, University of Alberta Alumni Association: History Trails, accessed: February 8, 2021, https://sites.ualberta.ca/…/hist…/buildings/94winalumni.html.
“U of A Plans $1,223,000 Car Park”, Edmonton Journal, May 16, 1970.
“The Stone Owl: The Collector”, Folio, January 7, 1971.
Jac MacDonald, “A Link to University’s Early Days”, Edmonton Journal, September 27, 1985.
Sarah Carter, “Opinion: Shameful to Demolish UofA’s Historic Ring Houses”, Edmonton Journal, February 9, 2021.
Steven Dyer, “Petition to Save Historical Ring Houses at U of A Growing,” C.T.V. News Edmonton, February 9, 2021.
“University of Alberta Plans to Demolish Historic Ring Houses”, C.B.C. News Edmonton, February 9, 2021.
