Another “bright spot” is taking shape in downtown Saskatoon, at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 23rd Street.When I was a kid, back in the mid-70s before they’d discovered electricity, the King George was still being touted in television ads as Saskatoon’s “family hotel”. It had, sometime in the 1960s I think, been “modernized”: the fine old brickwork pictured here in the vintage postcard (click for closeups) was covered up with green and white art-deco tile, similar to what covered the Hudson Bay building across the street. The arched windows facing 23rd on the ground floor’s north side were ripped out and replaced with standard aluminum-and-glass fare, allowing retail space which would eventually give way to a beer store.
There were many great things about the 1960s, and architecture wasn't one of them. The new look wasn't great at first, and it slowly transformed itself into butt-ugly. See for yourself in the second photo. You’ll note the weird, elongated pyramid sort of shape down the front corner. In the late 1970s, this held a giant revolving sign that glared light into the windows of the corner rooms. (I always wondered how thick the drapes had to be.) In the 1980s that disappeared, and the “Times Square” news ticker appeared beneath it. By the 1990s, that was a broken dream of randomly-lit pixels, apparently never to be repaired.
The KG had fallen on hard times. I’m not saying the clientele took a dip, but by the mid-1990s the challenge at the gift store I worked in nearby was throwing out all the over-served drunks that wandered out of that place looking for trouble. We developed a pet name for it: “The Barry on Second”. Finally, mercifully, the place shut down for good. A fire took place, under mysterious circumstances (see my posting from 17 February, 2009).
Buyers came. They promised great things. Property taxes fell into arrears. This happened, I think, more than once.
By the time Meridian Development took the place over, I’m sure no one had any great expectations left. When they announced their grandiose plans, even I admit to thinking, “Yeah, yeah…we’ve heard it all before.”
Oh we of little faith.
Today, the new King George is nearing completion—on a scale far exceeding even the developer’s. They’d had, it seemed, plans to restore the old brickwork. They were going to remove the horrible green and white tiles (which were breaking loose and raining down on the sidewalk below anyway). Unfortunately, they soon discovered the brickwork had been destroyed in the earlier “modernization”. Down it came. Down came the walls behind it. Down came nearly everything, in fact, until the KG looked like a really tall parkade. Nothing but floors and pillars, open to the world. They were keeping the place weren’t they? It didn’t look like much was left.
But look at it now. The top three floors are condos, the second is office space, and the main floor will accommodate retail. A new addition has gone up on the south side, and the building features underground parking. Little regal touches at the top restore the “King” to the “George”. Sweet.
Not so long ago, the KG was just one more reason to want to leave this town. Strike that off the list.
Well done, gentlemen!
Link: http://www.meridiandevelopment.ca/KG/page_1863744.html
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