File talk:The brown building (HS85-10-28351).jpg

Possible identification

The Pantages Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta, was a two-storey structure built in 1913 on Jasper Avenue at 102 Street, later converted to a movie theatre as the Metropolitan and the Strand, declared a historic site in 1976, but demolished in 1979. A page I found at cinematreasures.org, Strand Theatre, says it was “[d]esigned by the then 22 year old B. Marcus Priteca, in association with Edmonton architect Edward Collis Hopkins (who designed the restrained, two-story classical business building in front of the theatre to support an additional thirteen floors which were never built) ….“ The last part makes me wonder: could this image represent a less ambitious proposal, to add only eight storeys? As for the name Brown, in the Connect2Edmonton forum thread Lost Buildings a posting says the theatre was “[b]uilt in 1913 by Alexander Pantages and George Brown”: perhaps their plan was to name the theatre for the former, and the office block for the latter?—Odysseus1479 (talk) 06:00, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

P.S. In the 1923 photo at the first link above, the profile of the rear, auditorium portion of the building appears consistent with that shown in this image.—Odysseus1479 (talk) 06:42, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Sounds very feasible. You should add something to that effect to the image description, making clear that it is an educated assumption. I am delighted that images categorized in the "unidentified" category are actually being identified, as opposed to remaining forever in a black hole.--Skeezix1000 (talk) 13:16, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Web searching turned up, from a cloud somewhere in a paper on neon signs (plain text file):

George Brown rented the southwest corner of Jasper Avenue and Second Street [… and] interested a fellow Greek, Alexander Pantages, in building on the rear two thirds of his rented property […] He opened the Shasta Grill in the basement of the two-storey building […] A "skyscraper block" of ten stories was first announced for the corner of Jasper Avenue and Second Street in the Edmonton Bulletin on 15 March 1912. In addition to office space, the design by architect E.C. Hopkins was to accommodate a grand new theatre. Plans changed in June, when it was announced in Seattle that B. Marcus Pritica, the architect who designed all the Pantages theatres, was now planning the theatre complex […] Theatres also were planned for Canada in Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Vancouver. While the Vancouver building would be ten stories high, the Edmonton theatre would only stand five stories high […].

If I can verify that Edmonton Bulletin citation, I think the identification as a proposed building atop the Pantages/Strand Theatre will be more or less confirmed. I’ll see if I can find out more about the historic-site designation and the demolition. We don’t seem to have any photos of it at all.—Odysseus1479 (talk) 07:52, 19 November 2013 (UTC)