10302 Whyte Avenue

The Calgary & Edmonton Railway Company built what was first called the Edmonton House Hotel in 1891, making it the oldest wood frame commercial building on Whyte Avenue. Originally the rectangular wood frame building had 45 guest-rooms, a dining room and beer parlour. The old gal still knows how to kick up her heels.

During Prohibition, the Strathcona Hotel served as the Westminister Ladies College.

Two additions, in 1907 and 1913, were built onto the north end of the Strathcona Hotel.

10309 Whyte Avenue

The Ross Block, built in 1894, was one of the first brick buildings on Whyte Avenue and it held Strathcona's first hardware, plumbing and tinsmithing business. Its namesake W.E. Ross bought the building in 1897 and the upper floor became Ross Hall and served as Strathcona's first meeting hall and cultural centre.

10347 Whyte Avenue

Frank Cowles arrived in Strathcona in 1894 and began working from a shack at Whyte Avenue and 104th Street. The following year, he built this wood frame block and it became the first drug store in Strathcona. Later Cowles' Drug Store moved next door to 10349 Whyte Avenue. Frank Cowles died in 1939 but his sons carried on the business until 1965.

10437 83 Avenue

The original brick Strathcona Telephone Exchange, erected in 1908 by Alberta Government Telephones, was purchased by the city when Strathcona and Edmonton amalgamated in 1912. The front of the building was altered in 1926 and again in 1948. The building remained a telephone exchange until 1985.

Alarmed by the fires that were razing the wood-framed buildings of countless small communities across Canada, Strathcona council passed an ordinance in 1092 that all new buildings must be constructed of fire retardant materials. Before that, most of Strathcona's buildings were built of wood.

8101 103 Street

Separate waiting rooms for men and women and a smoking lounge were the talk of the town when the station opened in January 1908. Built for $24,000, it replaced a modest wood frame station that had been constructed in 1891.

10322 83rd Avenue

Built in 1910/11 when fire engines were horse drawn, this fire hall served as a stable, a garage for the engines and a dormitory for the fire-fighters. Standing 77' high, the cupola-topped tower housed the hall's alarm bell and a drying rack for the fire hoses. Today it is the only surviving fire hall from this era in Edmonton, and is the only surviving fire hall of its type in Alberta.

10510 Whyte Avenue

It was started one year before Strathcona amalgamated with Edmonton in 1912, but not completed until the following year as Strathcona's Post Office and offices for Customs and Inland Revenue. The Strathcona Public Building was designed in the Edwardian Classical Revival style and was declared a Provincial Historic Resource in 1985.

10337 Whyte Avenue

When it opened in 1915, the Princess Theatre was said to have the largest stage in western Canada. Early fare included high-class musical vaudeville and musical concerts. When television arrived in the 1950s, the lobby of the Princess was converted to retail use for more than 15 years.

The first commercial film shown at the Princess Theatre was The Eagle's Mate, starring Mary Pickford. Until 1940, the Princess was the only commercial theatre in south Edmonton.