Fred Payton
Prince Albert Historical Society
In the early 1900s, Prince Albert could lay claim to two buildings with the designation The Holmes Block. One was located at 808 Central Avenue. It was in existence from at least 1909, although by 1919 it was known as the Shannon Block. The other Holmes Block, which still exists, was on the southeast corner of 1st Avenue and 8th Street East. It is this latter building with which we are presently concerned.
Born on Augst 31st, 1850, Andrew Holmes lived in Heiton, Roxburgshire, Scotand, where, at the age of fourteen, he apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner. Crossing the Atlantic at the age of twenty-three, he spent a few months at the Red River before coming to Prince Albert, arriving here in August of 1883. He would appear to have been quite an accomplished carpenter, as Ida Clarke Thompson, indicated in her article in “The Voice of the People”, a book of reminiscences of early Prince Albert residents. She told of viewing a sideboard which Andrew had built for his new bride: “a beautiful sideboard,” arousing her childish admiration, “the drawers lined with purple velvet. It was real craftmanship of which there is little today.”
Between 1883 and 1895, Holmes, in partnership with H.B. Garvin, established himself as a contractor within the town of Prince Albert and surrounding area. Serving as a sergeant under Major Irvine during the 1885 Resistance, Holmes was stationed at Fort Carlton until its evacuation. After the dissolution of his partnership with Garvin, Holmes became active in municipal politics, serving as a councilman in 1896 and 1897. With Prince Albert’s elevation to city status, he served as an alderman from 1904 to 1909, and as Prince Albert’s mayor in 1910 and 1911. It was shortly after his political career ended that Holmes began to host a levee on New Year’s Day at his newly constructed home on the corner of 6th Avenue and 19th Street East (now Killarney Kastle). Citizens from that era would relate how everyone in the community would be invited, and those who came would enter through the front door, receive a beverage and snack, and then be escorted out the back door.
By 1904, he and his older brother Thomas were identified as the owners of a grocery and men’s furnishings store. Andrew continued to operate his contracting and building firm, while Thomas managed the store from the premises on the corner of 1st Avenue and 8th Street East.
By 1913, the store on 8th StreetEast was listed in the Henderson’s Directory as “A. Holmes & Company Departmental Store; Fancy & Staple Dry Goods, Boots & Shoes, Groceries, Chinaware, etc.” The following year, it was listed as “Andrew & Alexander Holmes Groceries, Provisions, Crockery & Glassware”. Andrew Holmes’ son, Alexander George now ran the 8th Street store, while Andrew’s older brother Thomas appears to have moved on to another store within the city.
The year 1919 brought two items of note. Andrew was now the provincial game warden, while 808 Central was now known as the Shannon Block. The death of Thomas also occurred in that year. On page six of the February 4th edition of the Daily Herald, was a report of the death of Thomas Holmes, brother of Andrew and general merchant. He was described as “kindly and likeable, charitable”.
In the February 6th edition of the Daily Herald, it was announced that Thomas’ funeral would be held the next day from Howard’s Funeral Home. Beside this brief story was an advertisement announcing that A.G. Holmes Grocery Store on 8th Street and T. Holmes, Central Avenue, would be closed from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in respect of the memory of the late Thomas Holmes.
The 1925 Henderson’s lists Alexander as a grocer occupying the premises of101 – 8th Street East, but by 1927, when the next Henderson’s was published, the occupant was listed as Prince Edward School. Alexander had closed not only the grocery business, but had also sold the business (apparently to the Prince Albert School Board) when he moved permanently to Lethbridge, Alberta. Andrew, his father, moved to Calgary in 1927 and joined Alexander in Lethbridge in 1946. Both died and are buried in Lethbridge.
Reports of the School Board meetings in 1926 indicated that there was considerable overcrowding within the local schools. As a result, two classrooms were opened after Easter that year, in an attempt to alleviate this situation. Both classrooms, for beginner students, had at least twenty-five students when they opened, but quickly grew in size, with the enrolment in one exceeding forty students by the end of the month. As a result, the School Board made the decision to renovate the entire building to accommodate these students, as well as those from the Ninth Street School and some from Central School. This was the initial location of Prince Edward School, and would remain as such until the new school was built between 11th and 12th Streets East between 5th and 6th Avenue (now the location of the Saskatchewan Rivers Board office).
By 1934, when the new Prince Edward School was opened, the Holmes Bock was vacant. The ground floor would remain so until 1942 or 1943. Although it has not been determined if the School Board retained the property or sold it, the upper floors were returned to suites, and a resident caretaker lived on site.
By 1943, the Prince Albert Public Library had been located to the main floor of the Holmes Block. The library had been located on the second floor of City Hall (now the Margo Fournier Arts Centre) for a number of years, but its secretary-treasurer, S.J.A. Branion (who had been mayor of Prince Albert from 1925 to 1929) and Muriel Macarthur, the librarian, wanted more space and greater permanency. The public library remained in this location until 1950 when it moved to the former Prince Albert Men’s Club at 50 – 12th Street West.
The Holmes Block did not remain vacant for long. The Prince Albert Health Region located to it in 1951, remaining in that location until 1955 when it became the headquarters for the Saskatchewan Power Corporation and its Gas Supervisor, J.F. Howarth.
The main floor of the building became vacant again in1960 when Saskatchewan Power Corporation move into its new building on the corner of Central Avenue and 14th Street East. Aside from the upper floor suites, it remained vacant until Orville Hjertaas opened his Community Clinic in 1962. It was also the home of the Prince Albert and District Community Health Services in 1963.
In 1965, Garand Agencies, a real estate firm operated by Paul Garand, filled the vacancy left when the Community Clinic moved into its new premises across 8th Street. They remained on site for about two years, after which the main floor once again became vacant. From 1967 until 1976, only the upper floor apartments were occupied. During this time frame, the building was owned by various landlords, including Jack Harasyn and Len Silzer. In 1977, Bill Wasyliw opened Riverview Agencies on the main floor, remaining there until the early 1980s. At the same time, in 1977, Velma Ackland opened Velma’s Boutique at 820, the southwest corner of the main floor. She lasted a couple of years before that space became vacant. It was occupied once again in 1980 when Cliff Scott opened the Hair Fashion Salon. This business still exists.
After Riverview Agencies moved out of the building, Custom Computing Systems, managed by Brian Walker, moved in. In 1982, the business became known as Allied Computer Stores. In the Henderson’s of 1983/84, this business was gone, and again the apartments on the upper floors and the Hair Fashion Salon were the only spaces occupied.
In 1986, Making Memory Photographers, owned by Larry and Mona Markwart, moved into the major main floor space. In 1989, Larry was listed as the building’s owner. They remained in the building until moving by 1993 to their new premises on 10th Street East, a building which was lost to fire a few years later.
With the major main floor space vacant, Markwart sold the building to Orest Rebryna, who owned the building from approximately 1995 until 1999, when he sold the building to Michael Paul.
More recent information regarding the Holmes Block suggests that the apartments have been turned into condominiums. The main floor continues to be unoccupied.
Although occasional name changes have occurred with respect to the building (the Klein Block in the mid-twenties and the Rebryna Block in the 1990s), it retained its original name in the Henderson and similar listings through the years. Along with the house he built at 585 – 19th Street East, this block remains as a reminder of one of this city’s early pioneers.
fgpayton@sasktel.net
