University of Lethbridge
Department of Geography
People and Places - Geography 2240
Self-Guided Field Trip: The Streetscape of Westminster Village
Risk Management and Safety
These are low risk activities requiring nothing more than normal care and attention to city traffic.
Be prepared for a three hour walk covering 4-5 kilometers. Wear comfortable walking shoes and
dress for the weather. Several bathroom breaks are planned. I shall have a cell phone on the guided
field trip. Students doing this as a self-guided trip should arrange to bring a cell phone if at all
possible. All participants must carry proof of health insurance.
As a self-guided field trip, this exercise must be done in groups of two or three at any convenient
time, starting early enough that it can be completed in daylight. Please review all questions and
directions before setting out. Please be careful crossing streets and be careful not to offend or
interfere with other pedestrians or neighbourhood residents. Do not trespass on private property
and while digital photographs can be an excellent way of recording field data, please be discreet
should you wish to use a camera.
Background
This field trip focuses on 13th Street North, a traditional shopping street with housing running off
the avenues that cut across it. Called Westminster Street until 1911 (when all of the city's named
streets were numbered), 13th Street has always been a critical North-South artery because for many
years it was one of only two city streets that crossed the railway tracks, and from 1912 to 1947 it
was a street car route. It was the principal shopping and entertainment street for North Lethbridge
at a time when the north side was quite distinct and somewhat isolated from the south side. It is
important today because it is a shopping street in transition and it offers a cross section of nearly
every major type of urban land use. It was formerly designated as a Business Revitalization Zone
which attempted (unsuccessfully) to preserve and promote the commercial role of this street.
Instructions
Begin the exercise at 3rd Avenue and 13th Street South (1st Choice Savings). Please do not park on
this private parking area if you choose to drive to this point.
From 3rd Avenue South to 8th Avenue North (Questions 1-13), compile a sketch map of urban land
uses facing on 13th Street as you walk North. Using the base map provided, classify each parcel
into one of the following land use categories:
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a. Industrial
b. Motor vehicle sales and services
c. Planned shopping centres with on-site parking
d. Street-front retail (include restaurants, personal, and professional services)
e. Institutional (include places of worship, schools, community centres and service clubs)
f. Green space
g. Vacant.
h. Residential
i. Transportation (roadways, railway, parking lots, airports)
Throughout the field trip, observe places of worship, noting their names and denominations.
Anatomy of a Traditional Shopping Street
1.Walk North on 13th Street towards the Crowsnest Trail and railway tracks. What sort of land use
was attracted to the flanks of the railway to the East and West of 13th Street? Do you see any
newer businesses that suggest a change in the dominant land use in this area?
2.Established in 1907, Ellison’s Flour Mill is an important symbol in Lethbridge for two reasons.
a. It was the first industrial food processor in Lethbridge marking the beginning of economic
diversification and a gradual process of community development from rowdy trading post and
mining camp to a fully functional service agricultural service centre.
b.It was founded by a Mormon family emblematic of the urbanization and economic success of a
cultural group that first arrived in Canada only eight years before, in 1899. Observe this 102-year
old mill. Does it appear to have changed? How does it receive its grain? Would you describe this
facility as land-locked?
3.As you move down into the underpass, are you conscious of entering “machine-space”? Pause
between the Crowsnest Trail overpass and the railway overpass. Is this a pedestrian friendly
landscape? Chat quietly with your partner; are you comfortable here? From a pedestrian
perspective, is this a barrier or a conduit?
4.When you emerge on the North side of the 13th Street underpass, observe the two storey brick
building on the west side of 13th Street. Opened in 1949, the Catelli plant supplied the western
Canadian pasta market until it was acquired and closed down in 2003/2004. How do you suppose
this plant used to take delivery of its durum wheat to make the pasta? How does it function now?
5.Note the large parking lot of the Centre Village Mall. Built in 1971, this was Lethbridge's
second enclosed mall, and at the time, specialized in mid-priced high volume retailers (e.g.
Sears). Most of its initial commercial tenants have been replaced by a second generation of
tenants. Can you recall any more recent tenants that have now relocated? How would you
characterize the stores of Centre Village Mall today?
Bathroom break in the Mall if necessary.
6.Note the older strip mall on the East side between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue. What sorts of
stores occupy this space? Are they chain stores or independents? Do you suppose the rent for
these strip mall stores is as high as in the Centre Village Mall? Is window shopping encouraged by
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the parking lot separating the sidewalk from the store fronts? What effect does this have on
pedestrian traffic?
7.
Observe the facade of # 244. Why is this called a "boomtown front"? Look at the two
storey Williamson Block between #244 and 250 which was built about 1915. (A "block", in this
context, is a flat-fronted two or three storey commercial building, see Figure 1.) How has it been
refinished? Do the windows look original? What do the electric boxes suggest about the future
function of this structure? Is there sufficient parking?
Figure 1: Typical early twentieth century building blocks in downtown Lethbridge. Note brick construction set flush
with the sidewalk, commercial functions on the first floor, often with residential use on the upper stories.
8.
The Wooden Kilt at the corner of 13th Street and 3rd Avenue is housed in the old York
Hotel. A typical small western hotel built in 1914, it was considered to be a prestigious place to
stay in the 1940s. How would you characterize this establishment today? (Be sure to look around
the north side and consider how the upper floors are used.)
9.
Pause after crossing 3rd Avenue North and look back to the structure at #258. This building
housed the Standard Bank in 1915 which had become the Canadian Bank of Commerce by 1929.
What is its function now? Is this building’s construction consistent with its former use as a bank?
What can you observe about its location? Can you think of other banks in similar locations?
10.
Observe A&A Auto Sales at the north-east corner of 3rd Avenue A and 13th Street North.
What do you suppose was its original function? When do you suppose it was built? Observe the
building at #336. What do you guess was its former function in an age before there was a television
in every home?
11.
You may wonder about the function of #408 and its acronym: CSRA. This is a meeting hall
for the Chinook Society for Recovering Addicts. Why do you suppose it is located here?
12.
Westminster Plaza (between 4th and 5th Avenues) was built in 1970. For many years its
anchor store was a grocery supermarket chain store. What is the anchor function of this shopping
plaza today? How do you account for this change? Is this prestige retail space today?
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Bathroom break at Tim Horton’s if necessary.
13.
Pause after you cross 8th Avenue and enjoy the park space.
a.
Look north up 13th Street and then look back south again. Can you detect a change in the
landscape? Describe this sense of change. Can you account for this change?
b.
Examine the land use map you have compiled. Describe the pattern of land use on the first
seven blocks of 13th Street North. Can you detect any distinct zones from the railway tracks to 8th
Avenue?
Lethbridge's Streetcar Suburb, 1912-1947: East of 13th St. North
Turn right on 9th Avenue, stroll east to 16th Street observing the bungalows on the north side. When
would you guess they were built?
14.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
15.
a.
b.
c.
d.
As you walk through this area, you should look for some fairly distinctive types of housing.
On the North side of 9th Avenue you will see small bungalows dating to the 1950s when all
of Canada experienced rapid housing construction that corresponds to the baby boom.
Examples of "wartime housing," especially on the North side of 8th Avenue. Built from
1944 to 1949, they are typically small bungalows or 1½ storey structures on relatively large
lots. You will find identical housing styles in every city in Canada.
Miner’s cottages that might have been built by the owner-occupant on very small lots.
Evidence of additions to enlarge existing houses?
Residential "infill" in which new houses of contemporary design have been shoe-horned
between older homes?
“Monster houses” which completely fill the building envelope in all three dimensions?
Throughout this area you will find some distinctive landscape features:
Do Avenues that tend to be more heavily treed than the Streets?
Are boulevards separating the sidewalk from the street found everywhere?
Can you find evidence that xeriscaping is beginning to replace conventional lawns and
gardens?
Can you discern any basic designs that were used repetitively? How could some of
these small structures have housed a family of four or five? How do these homes compare
to contemporary single family dwellings?
16.
Walk South on 16th Street, East on 8th Avenue A to Galbraith School which was built in
1912. Who laid the cornerstone? Was this school surrounded by housing when it was built? How
can you tell? How does this school design compare to more recent construction?
17.
Consider the overall age distribution of the housing stock in this area (east of 13th). This
area began to develop as a suburb about 1910. However, its growth was arrested by war and
depression. (Consider that Ridgewood Heights on the west side was fully developed in less than
five years.) How long do you suppose it took for this area to become fully developed? Based on
observation, how do you think this area looked in the 1920s and 1930s?
18.
Turn right on 18th Street and walk south to 8th Avenue. Walk west to 17th Street, south to 7th
Avenue and then turn right and walk west across 13th Street.
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Bathroom break at the Husky station if necessary
Lethbridge's Streetcar Suburb, 1912-1947: West of 13th St. North
19.
Continue West on 7th Avenue after crossing 13th Street North and turn left at 12th Street B
and stop at St. Basil's School. Compare its design and age with Galbraith School. Why do you
suppose there are two schools of similar vintage on the north side?
20.
Walk South on 12th Street B, turn left at 6th Avenue, walk a block east and turn right on
th
12 Street C. What is the land use at #1260 12th Street C? Does this appear to be an example of
functional change?
21.
Walk South on 12th Street C. Was this street planned with universal automobile ownership
in mind? Pause for a moment to observe the house styles at #506 and #510. These are in a style
referred to as a ‘Craftsman cottage’ A part of the broader Arts and Crafts design movement, these
gable-fronted bungalows were built between 1900 and 1914 with distinctive exposed rafters or
decorative brackets under the eaves, a front porch beneath an extension of the main roof supported
by tapered square columns. The nesting of a small front gable over the porch within a larger front
gable is a common design element in Lethbridge.
22.
Note the distinctive Victorian-style gingerbread at #419. Is such ornamentation a common
design feature today? Note the dramatic change in land use after you cross 3rd Avenue North.
Pause and look East and West on 3rd Avenue North. What accounts for the sudden transition in
land use between the south side and north side of this street? Would you say that the land use mix
on 12th Street C between 3rd Avenue North and 2nd Avenue North is homogenous or heterogenous?
23.
Have you noted all the places of worship that you saw along the way? What common
religious groups appear to be missing? What conclusions can you draw about the religious
affiliation in the older parts of Lethbridge’s north side?
Conclusion
When you reach Centre Village Mall, you’re done!
Review these questions and your field notes to ensure that you did not miss anything.
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