Kelly Ramsey Building
Located	Edmonton Edmonton Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census... , Alberta Alberta Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
Founded	Kelly 1910; Ramsey 1927
Style	Chicago commercial Chicago school (architecture) Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School. The style is also known as Commercial style. In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century...
Architect	Kelly, Van Siclen; Ramsey, Magoon & Macdonald
Website	Website

The Kelly Ramsey Building is an historic building located in Downtown Edmonton

Downtown Edmonton

Downtown Edmonton is bounded by 109 Street to the west, 105 Avenue to the north, 97 Street to the east, 97 Avenue, 100 Avenue, and Rossdale Road to the south and Jasper Avenue to the southeast , though many people consider part or all of the surrounding neighborhoods to be part of downtown...

 at 10040-101A Avenue on Rice Howard Way.

History

James Ramsey was a department store owner who opened up a store in the Tegler Building (behind the Kelly Ramsey Building). Shortly after moving to Edmonton in 1911, he required more space and moved into the building which was built by a blacksmith

Blacksmith

A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...

 John Kelly

John Kelly (Canadian politician)

John Edmund Kelly was a politician in Alberta, Canada and a municipal councillor in Edmonton.-Biography:Kelly was born in Glengarry County, Ontario July 2, 1852. He was trained as a marine and mechanical engineer...

. Not long after Kelly's death Ramsey bought the building from his widow in 1926 for $100,000. He then extended the story westward calling it the Ramsey Building. In the 1940s

1940s

File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...

 the Government of Alberta bought the building. More recently, it has been owned by Worthington Properties.

In March 2009 a fire broke out and gutted most of the building. Police determined it was caused by arson

Arson

Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...

 and on April 2 a man was arrested for the fire. In September 2009, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta

Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta

The Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta is the superior court of the Canadian province of Alberta....

 ordered a judicial sale of the building due to foreclosure

Foreclosure

Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...

for $3 million, down from its previous price of $10 million.

Architecture

The building is two four-story, brick and steel frame buildings. The Ramsey portion was an addition to the Kelly Block. The two buildings are quite different. The Kelly Block is done in dark brick and the Ramsey Building has a stone facade, three-part windows, and a smaller cornice.