From 1913 to 1938 this building was the official residence for the Lieutenant Governors of Alberta. On the grounds of the Royal Alberta Museum, the house overlooks the North Saskatchewan River to the south.
It is a large three-storey sandstone mansion with formal gardens, a chauffeur's house and a greenhouse. Completed in 1913, the building was the residence of the first six Lieutenant Governors: George H.V. Bulyea, Robert G. Brett, William Egbert, William L. Walsh, Philip C.H. Primrose, and John C. Bowen.
Government House was designated a Provincial Historic Resource on June 7th, 1985. The heritage significance of this building is enhanced by the fact that it was designed by Richard Blakey, who was the principal architect for Alberta Public Works from 1912 to 1923. This was very likely his first commission in this position.
Government House
Description of Historic Place
The Government House site comprises several early twentieth-century buildings, structures, and landscape elements, including a three-storey sandstone mansion and surrounding formal gardens and landscaping, a chauffeur's residence, and greenhouse. The site is located on one city block overlooking the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton's Glenora district. It is situated directly south of the Royal Alberta Museum.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Government House site lies in its role as the official residence for the Lieutenant Governors of Alberta between 1913 and 1938. Heritage value also lies in the excellent period architecture of Government House and its associated auxiliary buildings.
Built between 1912 and 1913, Government House was the official residence of the Province's first six Lieutenant Governors: George H.V. Bulyea, Robert G. Brett, William Egbert, William L. Walsh, Philip C.H. Primrose, and John C. Bowen. Here they hosted state receptions, visiting royalty and other dignitaries; the mansion was a centre of social and political life in the province. Integral to maintaining the prestigious air of Government House and facilitating functions were a number of auxiliary buildings constructed in the early to mid-1910s and offering carriage and automobile storage and maintenance, horse and cow stables, a chauffeur's residence, greenhouse, outdoor bedding plant facilities, and winter food storage. In 1938, however, after more than a decade of complaints in the Legislative Assembly about the "economy" of maintaining a Lieutenant Governor's residence (and resentment toward the incumbent Lieutenant Governor, John C. Bowen, who had refused to give Royal Assent to three government bills), it was closed and converted to other uses. In 1942, it was leased to North West Airlines and the US Army Corps of Engineers during the Second World War and the construction of the Alaska Highway. Two years later, the Dominion Government began using the building as a convalescent home for wounded and disabled veterans, and pruchased the building in 1951. In 1964, in anticipation of Canada's Centennial (which also saw the opening of the new Provincial Museum that was constructed on the property) the province reacquired Government House and began refurbishing the building as a site for state and community events.
Government House is also significant for its architectural craftsmanship and construction. It was the most costly, most luxurious residence built in Edmonton to that point, and its eclectic design incorporated at least three architectural trends that were popular at the time of its construction. The exterior follows the Beaux Arts movement in borrowing from historic precedents, in this case features of the Jacobean Revival style such as prominent projections, parapet gable walls and wall dormers, bay windows, battlements and oculus openings. The exterior porches and more delicate interior details speak to the Edwardian Classical Revival style, and an Arts and Crafts influence is evident in the simplified fireplace surrounds, wainscoting, and built-in furnishings and mouldings. Like the Provincial Legislature, the imposing size and ornamental detail of Government House was designed to reflect Alberta's new provincial status. The architect was R.P. Blakey, who as the principal architect for Alberta Public Works from 1912- 1923 was responsible for many prominent public buildings. Blakey also designed the chauffeur's residence, which complements Government House's English revival design in its Tudor Revival architecture, most prominently expressed in the building's decorative timber-framing with stucco infilling.
From the Alberta Register of Historic Places