Primrose House

This distinctive one-and-a-half storey bungalow stood on 118 Street and 100 Avenue. As is typical of Arts and Crafts style architecture, this home had a sloping gabled roof with wide eave overhangs. It was clad with mixed materials, and incorporated concrete and brick. The prominent features overlooking the street were the large gabled dormer with its arched three-pane window and the unique concrete arch with hollow spandrels over the deep, full-length covered verandah. A large brick chimney climbed the south face of the house and projected relatively high above it. The deep front verandah that made for a discreet front entryway was reached via a wide staircase flanked with brick pillars on concrete bases, matching the brick and concrete supports for the concrete arch. Oversized lintels and sills defined the fenestration.

Horace Belanger is the first owner of this house which was first listed in Henderson's Directory in 1914. Philip Carteret Hill Primrose and his family moved into this house in 1920. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1864 and served in the Royal North West Mounted Police (RNWMP) from 1885 to 1915 when he retired at the rank of Superintendent. He married Lily Deane in 1902 while stationed in Lethbridge. The two met when Primrose was training at the Royal Military College in Regina; they had two daughters and two sons. During the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, Primrose was posted to Dawson, Yukon presiding over 47 servicemen. After medical treatment he retired from the RNWMP and accepted the position of police magistrate in Edmonton. During the First World War Primrose was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Edmonton Reserve Battalion. Although suffering from illness at the time, Primrose was appointed to the position of Lieutenant Governor of Alberta in 1936 and he and Lily moved into Government House. He died of a heart attack while in office, only five-and-a-half months into his term. The Primrose house stayed in the family when their son, the honourable Justice Neil Primrose, took ownership. Subsequently it was owned by the honourable Alexander Andrew McGillivary, then his son, Cheif Justice William Alexander McGillivary. The house came into the possession of the Bell-Spotowski Architects who wanted to build a twelve-storey condo in its place. Although considered for retention by the Development Appeal Board, the Primrose House was demolished in 1979 and replaced by the Grosvenor House Apartments.