Standing behind the much beloved Balfour Apartments lies another of Regina’s architectural gems. The Frontenac Apartments showcase a unique architectural style that seems more at home in Spain than in a prairie city.
The building was completed in 1930. It was commissioned by Provincial Apartments Limited, a joint-stock company of local business people to house workers for the new General Motors plant on 8th Avenue. It is believed that the apartments were originally meant to rival the Balfour in height, amenities, and luxury. However, because of the deepening depression, the building was scaled back to four stories. Two shafts for never-installed elevators still exist in the building. When completed, the building cost $200,000—more than $1.3 million today. The Frontenac was a prestigious address, home to many of Regina’s doctors, lawyers, and one its architects – William Van Egmond.
Storey and Van Egmond’s designs are flexible and innovative, and, as this tour demonstrates with its many Storey and Van Egmond buildings, extremely creative. The indelible mark this firm made on Regina is immense, and their architectural legacy lives on. In Regina alone, this firm designed the Balfour Apartments, Assiniboia Club, Regina Telephone Exchange, Balfour Collegiate, and more than 50 homes and 20 apartment blocks.
The Frontenac was designed in the Spanish or Mediterranean Revival style as illustrated by the terra cotta roof, the wide stucco band below the front eaves decorated with clay tile patterns, and the decorative contrasts achieved with brick and stone facing materials. Other features include arched door and window openings, decorative ironwork, projecting towers on the north and south wings, staggered balconies, and a curvilinear false central gable—echoed on the north and south faces—highlighted with a round bulls-eye vent. Distinctively, the building was designed with two grand entrances framing a central courtyard.
Designation: Municipal Heritage Holding Bylaw Properties (1989)
