Old Strathcona Post Office

Old Strathcona Post Office alternately called as: South Side Post Office, Strathcona Post Office or Strathcona Public Building is a restored heritage building in Strathcona Square, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The restored building along with a Festival Market was opened to the public on the first weekend of September 1988 and the place came to be known as Strathcona Square.HistoryThe building was designed by David Ewart, the Chief Architect of the Canadian Department of Public Works. The building bears the hallmark of a typical Edwardian style with a neat brick and limestone finishing which was a remarkable departure from the typical Romanesque style used in earlier post office buildings. The construction work started in 1911 and was completed by 1913 by the Canadian Government.Next to the grain terminal, the Old Strathcona Post Office clock tower stood as the second tallest structure on the south side of Edmonton for many years. Old Strathcona is a five (5) block area on 82 Avenue (Whyte Avenue), at the south side of Edmonton, Alberta, about 2 miles from the University of Alberta. The Old Strathcona Post Office was the first major restoration project undertaken in Edmonton’s historic Old Strathcona area. The Old Strathcona Post Office when first restored was modelled after Festival Market development undertaken by the Rouse Corporation in the United States, and Boston’s Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall in particular. In 1977 the Dominion of Canada abandoned the Old Strathcona Post Office. The building was placed on the Province of Alberta’s register of Grade A Provincial Historic Resources on February 12, 1985. The building sat empty until January 1986 when the City of Edmonton took ownership of the Old Strathcona Post Office for the sum of $1.00.