7 minute read
THE SHORT LIFE OF TWO TINY BUILDINGS
Edmonton Alberta
David Murray
‘The Mite Block, billed as the world’s smallest two-storey building, has been sold for $3,000 and will be torn down’ as published in the Edmonton Journal on July 30, 1960. “Asked about the historical value of the building, (the new owner) said Edmontonians should be glad to see it go because ‘it isn’t good for anything, and it doesn’t look good on Jasper Avenue’.
A Tiny Building on a Tiny Lot: 1914 - 1960
In 1913, Arthur Bloomer, a real estate and insurance agent, constructed the wedge-shaped Mite Block on Edmonton’s Jasper Avenue with just 2.7m of street frontage. It was a substantial terracotta brick building, that over the years served numerous occupants including the last owner, George Andrew Collins’ Imperial taxi business.
Henderson’s Directory: 9701 Jasper Avenue
1920 – F.H. Clark, Jeweller
1930 – Pete’s Dollar Taxi
1940 – Diamond Taxi Limited
1950 – Blue Diamond Taxi
1960 - Imperial Taxi
In 1947, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, in a newspaper cartoon feature, declared The Mite to be ‘the smallest two-storey building on this earth containing all facilities.’
The Edmonton Journal in 1956 reported that the Mite Block was a ‘surprisingly solid’ building with a full-size concrete foundation, modern plumbing and an electronically-operated door between the front waiting room and the general office on the ground floor, which could be controlled from upstairs by pushing a button. ‘In this way, it is possible for one man to be upstairs on dispatching duties while keeping the general office safely locked. At the same time he can admit persons who have business upstairs. This arrangement is necessary because there is only one outside door in the building and therefore only one way to get to the slightly cramped staircase.’
When George Collins sold the building in 1960, he had immediate regrets and tried to reverse the sales agreement but to no avail. The City Archives and Landmarks Committee publicly expressed regret. ‘It’s disappointing to hear that the building will disappear, but I guess we can’t stand in the way of progress’, and suggested that if it could be saved, ‘it would be a first-rate attraction for any store’.
Progress is the excuse given for the demise of this tiny building. The acceptable durée is simply as long as the building doesn’t impede progress. Is this not the excuse that we hear time and time again? An ever-expanding Alberta economy demands that urban properties be constantly redeveloped. 1960 was in an era before there were any incentives to retain historical buildings in Edmonton. Had this tiny building miraculously survived another 35 years, this delightful and unlikely structure might have benefited from the City’s initiative to designate and conserve significant historical resources, which was formalised in 1993.
A Comic Book Façade for a tiny Comic Book Store: 1986 - 1991
In 1985, the architectural rejuvenation of Edmonton’s historic south side district began with the Old Strathcona Building Front Improvement Work Program. It was a federal program in Canada that was intended to offer incentives for the hiring of unemployed workers affected by the downturn of the economy in the 1980s. Old Strathcona is the repository of a substantial inventory of recognised historic buildings, dating from the preWW1 period, centred around the southside main street, Whyte Avenue. I was appointed the architect for the program and over the course of four years, we completed numerous historic façade restorations and rejuvenations along Whyte Avenue and adjacent streets.
One of our projects was a commercial building, the Wee Book Inn used book store, next to the historic 1891 Strathcona Hotel. It was actually two buildings, a 7.3m wide brick building and a narrow 2.2m wide annex, which had been an undeveloped lot in the early twentieth century, later filled with first a one-storey building and later with a second story.
‘Darwin Luxford opened the first Wee Book Inn location on Whyte Avenue in 1971, setting up in a building not much more than two metres wide. The narrow structure would inspire the ‘Wee’ in Wee Book Inn.’ — Edmonton Journal September 23, 2021
Darwin and his wife Liola started their bookstore in the tiny 2.2m wide lot in 1971. Within 2 years they also leased the adjacent building to expand their operations. They purchased both properties in 1979. It was then that they dedicated the narrow lot building to be the Comic Book Annex.
The Wee Book Inn was one of the first buildings in the Building Front Improvement Work Program. With the cooperation of the Wee Book Inn owners, we decided to restore the original brick façade, hidden behind the stucco. But if we were to uncover the brick building, what were we going to do with the infill building in the original vacant lot? This was the comic bookstore, so my proposal was to construct a comic book façade for a comic book store. It was ironic moment in my career since I was professionally dedicated to the study and authentic restoration of historic buildings, not constructing false history, so I was amused by the permission I was given to bring a light-hearted idea to the serious business of conservation.
The design of the façade paid amusing tribute to the early wood-framed pre-WW1 facades of Old Strathcona. I would typically never deliberately reconstruct a replica façade in a recognised historic area, but the Comics store deserved some special treatment that paid tribute to the authentic historicism of the area without pretending to be anything but a cheerful take on the comic book business.
Unfortunately the life of this building was all too short. There was a fire in the neighbouring Antiquarian Book Store building in 1990, four years after the completion of the new facade, with a partial collapse onto the roof of the Wee Book Inn. The damage was so severe that the whole Wee Book Inn building was reconstructed — the comic book façade demolished, never to be seen again.
The Comics store and The Mite ended up being temporary architecture. For different reasons they outlived their times. Perhaps the Comics store in Old Strathcona could never could have been considered a permanent feature of the streetscape because it was so specific to the comic business. In fact, the current owner, Carey Luxford told me that his parents were contemplating reconstruction of the store before the fire, perhaps because the old building structures were no longer viable. Commercial businesses come and go over time. On Site review asks what is the acceptable durée for architecture? In this case, fate intervened to answer this question. It was ‘progress’ that ended the life of The Mite. If the fire had not destroyed the Comics store, perhaps progress would have also brought about its demise. It is interesting to me that both these buildings were fantasies in their own right, a little unbelievable. The Mite owes its reputation to a cartoon depiction in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not oeuvre and the Comics store to the fantasies that are embedded in comic books, which often depict both super optimism and the super human – the heroic.
Research assistance: Erik Backstrom
Chris Zdeb, Edmonton Journal article - July 30, 2015 https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/local-arts/wee-book-inns-words-andcats-celebrate-half-a-century-in-edmonton
DAVID MURRAY, AAA, FRAIC, APTI, has a long history in preservation, rehabilitation of historic resources and urban design strategies in historic districts. He practices in Edmonton, Alberta. https://www.davidmurrayarchitect.ca
