Demolition work underway at Edmonton Petroleum Club
A one-time social hub of northern Alberta’s oil and gas industry will soon be no more.
Demolition work on the former Edmonton Petroleum Club, 11110 108 St., began recently.
On Tuesday morning, an excavator sat among the wreckage. A towering fieldstone chimney still stood, but many of the walls had been reduced to rubble.
The outline of the words “Edmonton Petroleum Club” could still be seen on a sign near the entrance, but the letters had been removed.
The club said in a March news release the building had been sold to Daytona Homes.
The club ceased using the building at the end of 2014 and now holds events at private venues around the city.
The club first opened its doors in 1958 after the oil boom that took place earlier that decade. It was mainly used for social gatherings, including fine dining.
Darrel Babuk, a local architect with Boreas Architecture, said the mid-century modern building played a pivotal role in Alberta’s heritage.
“That building was probably the best symbol that we had, if not in the city, in the entire province, of that particular era,” he said. “It spoke of Alberta’s burgeoning economy, it spoke of the oil industry, it spoke of Alberta suddenly becoming an international player.”
“Many of the deals that put that economy together happened in that building,” he said.
Neither the club nor the company could be reached for comment Tuesday.