On this day in 1982, the Arlington Apartments were at risk of being levelled by a bulldozer.
The grand edifice at 10524 100 Avenue NW was built in 1909 to deal with Edmonton's severe growing pains at the start of the 20th century. The still-young city was both popular and prosperous, not to mention newly connected to the rest of the country by railroad.
The problem was there was a severe lack of housing to go around. Some new arrivals lived in tent cities for years before finding permanent shelter. Others wanted more than just a place to lay their heads; with the increasing number of banks and offices, a growing number of professionals were seeking accommodations close to downtown.
As of 2016, just over a quarter of Edmontonians live in apartments. But back in the early 1900s, the mere idea of an apartment building was controversial, due to fears they would turn into hubs for crime. The Arlington was one of the first apartment buildings to go up in the city.
From the start, the Arlington sold itself as a luxury building: it had a marble atrium, maple-wood floors, and built-in oak furniture in its 49 apartments. The building also contained cutting-edge amenities at that time: gas stoves, telephones, and electric lighting. It quickly became an in-demand residence for lawyers, physicians, artists, and other downtown workers (and, for a time, one serial killer).
The Arlington began to decline in prestige starting in the 1970s, partially due to people moving to other parts of the city. Residents of the storied building began petitioning city council for attention, citing concerns about prostitution and crime. At the same time, a lack of critical upkeep led to severe structural problems. This prompted developers in 1982 to propose bulldozing the Arlington to replace it with an office building — a plan that ultimately was dropped.
In 1990, the Arlington survived a basement fire, but it proved to be a grim portent. Recognizing the heritage importance of the structure, the province made it a historic resource in 1995. The city followed with the same designation in 1998, which included $400,000 to renovate the building's brick facade.
Fire struck again in 2005. This time, the blaze — which was deliberately set — gutted the building, leaving little more than the facade standing. This was the beginning of a multi-year battle between the city, which wanted to incorporate the surviving brick into any rebuilt building, and developers, who didn't see that as feasible. Eventually, in 2008, the Arlington was demolished in an act that the Heritage Canada Foundation called "one of the nation's worst heritage site losses this year."
The building was gone, but the ghost of the Arlington remained. It lingered partially in the courthouse, as a lawsuit between the building's owners dragged along for 15 years before being dismissed in 2020. But its memory also remains as one of the many examples of Edmonton's lost heritage resources, many of which were catalogued earlier this year by urban planner Erik Backstrom.
This is based on a clipping found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse — follow @VintageEdmonton for daily ephemera via Twitter.