Alberta Legislature Building | |
---|---|
The Alberta Legislature Building
|
|
General information | |
Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
Address | 10800 97 Avenue NW Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2B6 |
Town or city | Edmonton, Alberta |
Country | Canada |
Construction started | 1907 |
Completed | 1913 |
Cost | $2 million CAD |
Client | Government of Alberta |
Owner | Government of Alberta |
Height | 57 m (187.0 ft) |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Allan Merrick Jeffers and Richard Blakey |
The Alberta Legislature Building is located in Edmonton, Alberta, and is the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly and the Executive Council. It is known to Edmontonians as "the Ledge".
The building is located on a promontory (overlooking the North Saskatchewan River valley to the south) which was once the location of Fort Edmonton, Mark V (1830–1915), a Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post. It is just up the hill from the archaeological finds at Rossdale Flats to the east, which was long-standing First Nations campsite and earlier location of Fort Edmonton. The legislature's location was selected shortly after Edmonton was confirmed as the provincial capital by the first session of the Legislature in 1906.
The legislature building is located along where 97 Avenue would be located, but the road was routed through a tunnel during the 1970s renovations to the grounds, allowing a large plaza to connect the legislature to a greenspace to the north.
To the west of the building the grounds are bounded by 109 Street and the former rail right-of-way coming north from the High Level Bridge, now used the High Level Bridge Streetcar and a walking path, with Victoria Park and Golf Course and the Grandin neighbourhood beyond.
To the north lies the "Government Centre" district within Downtown Edmonton, south of Jasper Avenue, Edmonton's main street. Here are found several provincial government office buildings including the recently renovated Federal Building. A short section of 108 Street, called "Capital Boulevard", is anchored by two terminating vistas, the legislature and MacEwan University's City Centre Campus. MacEwan is a part of the Old Canadian National rail yard redevelopment.