Valleyview Manor

12207 Jasper Avenue NW, Edmonton

Valleyview Manor is significant for its association with high density redevelopment in the community of Oliver and its International style.

As one of the city’s first high rise apartment buildings, Valleyview Manor is significant for its association with the high density redevelopment of Oliver. Valleyview Manor was completed in 1961 at a time when apartment living was gaining public acceptance, and represents the beginning of a cultural shift from traditional single family home ownership to marketing a high quality rental building designed for the professional white collar market. The scale and height of the building, as well as its prominent location overlooking the North Saskatchewan River Valley, were important in the developing skyline of Edmonton and providing the building with an aura of progressive sophistication. The luxury building included underground parking for its residents and high quality marble finishes at the front entrance, which added to its prestige and contributed to the perception of apartment living as a desirable urban lifestyle. Valleyview Manor was one of the first high-rise apartment building in Edmonton and is valued as an early example of the shift towards higher-density urban living.

Valleyview Manor is valued as a good example of International style in Edmonton. The International style in Edmonton began in the 1940s and was commonly used until the 1970s, although it is more typically found in commercial as opposed to residential structures. Valleyview Manor exemplified the International style through its flat roofs, asymmetrical rectangular forms and hard angular edges. Typical to the International style, Valleyview Manor derives its aesthetic qualities from the high quality of material, such as the mosaic tile and marble, rather than architectural ornamentation. The building was designed by Gordon Wynn, of Rule Wynn Rule Architects, an Edmonton firm responsible for many of the more notable modern buildings in Alberta. Valleyview Manor is significant because it is an uncommon and early example of an International style high-rise apartment building in Edmonton.

- Source: City of Edmonton Planning and Development Department POSSE File 96390796.