| Heritage Sites Update (2010 Season)
The restoration of the 1906 Alberta Grain Company Elevator and the 1929 Alberta Wheat Pool Elevator started this spring (please see Heritage Sites Functional Plan below). Delnor Construction has been appointed contract managers for this exciting restoration project. The restoration has been estimated at $1.7m and it will include restoration of the foundations, cribbing, siding, doors, windows, roofs, interiors, and exterior painting; as well as landscaping, pathways and site amenities. As both these buildings are designated as Provincial Historic Resources all the restoration and repairs must meet the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada.
The two images below were taken August 9, 2010 during a site tour of the restoration progress of the Grain Elevators.
 
Because of the restoration work that will be taking place at the St Albert Grain Elevator Park this summer the elevators will be closed to the public. However, the Train Station and Visitor Centre will remain open for tours, and our summer interpreters will be able to update you on the progress of the restoration project. We will also be updating our website with photographs and reports as the restoration of these grain elevators progresses.
 
Because of the restoration work, the Grain The restoration of the Grain Elevators has been
Elevators will be closed to the public estimated at $1.7M
this season.
St. Albert Heritage Sites: Functional Plan
In 2009, Arts and Heritage and the City of St Albert’s Cultural Services Department worked with ISL, HIP Architects and Robinson Weir on a Functional Plan for the St Albert Heritage Sites. The focus of this plan was to develop comprehensive restoration, design, and interpretive programming strategies for a heritage site development around the grain elevators, train station, and River Lots 23 and 24. The plan was approved by City Council in June 2009 and the detailed design for the restoration of the two provincially designated grain elevators got under way.
The Functional Plan builds on the vision and recommendations of the Master Plan for the Heritage Sites (2004). The Functional Plan has four key areas and impementation takes a phased approach:
Area 1: Grain Elevators
Area 2: RIver Lot 23 (Chevigny House and Brousseau Granary)
Area 3: River Lot 24 (Cunningham and Hogan Houses)
Area 4: Natural Area adjacent to the river
To view the executive summary of the Heritage Sites: Functional Plan, click here.
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Building the Replica Train Station (opened 2006)
Early in 2004, Len Clark and Associates were engaged
by the City of St. Albert to develop a Master Plan to
provide a direction for the future development of St.
Albert Heritage Sites for the next twenty years. This Master Plan was approved by St. Albert City Council in 2005.
Following recommendations in the Master Plan Arts and Heritage built a replica of the St. Albert train station, at the grain elevator site. The original station was built in 1909, on Mission Avenue,
north of the tracks and west of Meadowview Drive.
The train station was completed in late 2005 and designed as it would have appeared in the 1920s, after it was extended to increase the baggage handling area. The replica train station was designed by the architects O'Neill O'Neill
Procinsky and built by Johnston Builders of St. Albert. The train station acts as the visitor centre for the grain elevator park.
The Rotary Club of St. Albert donated $100,000 to the
cost of building the replica as part of the Rotary International
Centennial celebrations and the City of St. Albert has
contributed $160,000 from the Alberta Centennial Per
Capita Municipal Grant program. The Rotary Train Station and Visitor Centre was officially named and opened to the public in May 2006.
The Rotary Train Staion and Visitor Centre will remain open for tours during the Summer of 2010 |