Building Legacy

This is a resource for exploring Edmonton's historic built landscape. Come learn about the buildings that make Edmonton unique and the architecture that surrounds you everyday.

The Edmonton Historical Board acknowledges the traditional land on which we reside is in Treaty Six Territory. We would like to thank the diverse Indigenous Peoples whose footsteps have marked this territory for centuries, such as nêhiyaw (Cree), Dené, Anishinaabe (Saulteaux), Nakota Isga (Nakota Sioux), and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) peoples. We also acknowledge this as the Métis homeland and the home of one of the largest communities of Inuit south of the 60th parallel. It is a welcoming place for all peoples who come from around the world to share Edmonton as a home. It is important that we not only recognize our shared histories, but also each other's contributions to establishing the built heritage of Edmonton and Area.

 

Discover Edmonton's Architecture

Edmonton’s architecture was a product of its time. A bit of information about the city’s past will help you understand the buildings you see today.
Come discover Edmonton’s history!

Go Back In Time!

Edmonton's architecture was a product of its time. A bit of information about the city's past will help you understand the buildings you see today. Come discover Edmonton's history!

Architects

Pre-Contact and Fur Trade

Indigenous Peoples have called this area home for millennia. Many trace their origin stories to being of the lands of Turtle Island, and denounce other theories of migration. One certainty is that Settlers did not arrive in the West until commerce and the need for raw materials drove them to expand.

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Architects

Urban Settlement

Edmonton as we know it today began to develop in the early 1870s. Initially a very small community, it grew steadily until 1904, at which time it had a population of over 8,000.

 

 

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Architects

Urban Growth

Between 1905 and 1913 Edmonton experienced incredible growth. The population exploded from less than 10,000 to almost 70,000 in only a few years.

 

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Architects

The War Years

Between 1914 and 1945 Edmonton underwent phenomenal change as the Great War, the Depression and the Second World War left their mark.

 

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Architects

The Post War Years

The discovery of oil in Alberta changed Edmonton forever. Rapid growth, new technologies and changing lifestyles and world views dramatically altered Edmonton’s built landscape.

 

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