Description of Historic Place

The A. MacDonald Building is a four-storey, red brick former warehouse and office structure located on two city lots just north of the former Canadian National Railway (C.N.R.) yards in downtown Edmonton. The designation applies to the exterior envelope of the building and land.

Heritage Value

The historical significance of the A. MacDonald Building lies in its provision of structural evidence of tremendous commercial growth of Edmonton prior to World War One, and of the city's role as a distribution centre for the provision of supplies to the developing regions to the north and west. As this produce was shipped to the northern reaches of the province by rail, the building is also representative of the central role played by the Canadian Northern Railway in the development of Edmonton and the city's warehouse district. Furthermore, it is a very good Albertan example of an early twentieth century warehouse building in the classical revival style.

MacDonald's Consolidated, the primary occupant of the structure from 1914 to 1949, was a pioneer wholesale grocery distributor in Western Canada during the period of settlement and urbanization, in the decade before World War One. It became one of three largest wholesale grocery suppliers in northern Alberta. The manager and principal owner of Macdonald's, Harry H. Cooper, was influential in helping make MacDonald's Consolidated a household name in Edmonton, and as a leader in Edmonton's business and civic life.

In 1965, it was replaced by a new warehouse to the northwest, as most manufactured foods were now being shipped out of Edmonton by truck and not rail. In 2001 it was renovated from an open warehouse to condominium apartments. It remains one the tallest and most attractive of the pier-and-spandrel style of buildings in Edmonton's historic warehouse district, and as such is an important landmark.

Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des 2103)

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the A. MacDonald Building are those of an early twentieth century warehouse building in the classical revival style. They include:
- form, scale and massing;
- heavy timber post and beam system;
- restored red brick facade on stone base;
- masonry detailing including roman arches with keystones, rusticated columns, brick pediment, low peaked parapet, and vertical pier and recessed spandrel motif on the south and west elevations;
- four large arched loading bay doors on the west elevation;
- remnants of signage on the east facade [Macdonald's Consolidated Limited, Wholesale Grocers - - Fruit Merchants] and south [Cartage/Storage]; name plaque above entry;
- fenestration pattern on north, west and south elevations; double hung windows;
- entablature with paired stone pilasters framing the main doorway on south elevation;
- row of brick corbels above the fourth storey windows.