Churchill Square (officially "
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
Square") is the main
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
square in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, which plays host to a large number of festivals and events including: the
Edmonton International Street Performers Festival, Edmonton Fashion Week,
The Works Art & Design Festival
The Works Art & Design Festival is a thirteen day festival held at the end of June and the beginning of July in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from ...
,
Taste of Edmonton,
Cariwest, and
Edmonton Pride
The Edmonton Pride Festival (commonly known as Edmonton Pride) was an LGBTQ2S+ pride festival, held annually in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.[Edmonton City Hall
The Edmonton City Hall is the home of the municipal government of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Designed by Dub Architects, the building was completed in 1992. It was built to replace the former city hall designed by architects Kelvin Crawford Sta ...]
to the north, the
Law Courts
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...
and the
Art Gallery of Alberta
The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is an art museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The museum occupies a building at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton. The museum building was originally designed by Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley, alth ...
to the north-east, Chancery Hall and the
Francis Winspear Centre for Music
The Francis Winspear Centre for Music is a performing arts centre located in the downtown core of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Opened in 1997, it is the home of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. The centre is named after Francis G. Winspear, who don ...
to the east, the
Citadel Theatre
The Citadel Theatre is the major venue for theatre arts in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, located in the city's downtown core on Churchill Square. It is the third largest regional theatre in Canada.
History
It began in a former Salvati ...
to the south-east, the
Stanley A. Milner Library
The Stanley A. Milner Library is the flagship branch of the Edmonton Public Library. It is located on the southern side of Sir Winston Churchill Square in the downtown core of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The main library is near walking distance to ...
(the main branch of
Edmonton Public Library
The Edmonton Public Library (EPL) is a publicly funded library system in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, available for use by any member of the public. Library cards are free to all Edmontonians; as part of its centennial in 2013, the Edmo ...
) to the south and
Edmonton City Centre
Edmonton City Centre is a shopping mall in the downtown core of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, across the street (west) from Churchill Square.
History
In 1974, the City Centre Place office tower (Oxford Tower) was completed within the larger Edmon ...
mall to the west.
The centrepiece of the square builds a life-size bronze statue of
Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
, unveiled by
Lady Soames
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, (; 15 September 1922 31 May 2014) was an English author. The youngest of the five children of Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, she worked for public organisations including the Red Cross and the Women's ...
on May 24, 1989. It is a copy of a statue made by
Oscar Nemon
Oscar Nemon (born Oscar Neumann; 13 March 1906 – 13 April 1985) was a Croatian sculptor who was born in Osijek, Croatia, but eventually settled in England. He is best known for his series of more than a dozen public statues of Winston Churchill, ...
.
History
Historically, Edmonton's main square was Market Square, located just to the south of Churchill Square, on the site of the present Milner Library.
The City Market was housed in Market Square from its beginning in 1900, originally with the market happening outdoors. Successive plans were considered to develop the square into a civic centre, beginning in 1912. A building was built far away on 107 Avenue for the market to be moved indoors in November 1914, but was never used for this purpose and was boycotted by vendors and customers. The market returned to its original location and the city agreed to help construct a shelter. Beginning in 1915 the market was moved indoors, and by 1920 only overflow stalls were outside. From 1916, when the shelter was built, to 1965, when it moved off the site, the market flourished as the hub of Edmonton life. The City Market was finally shifted east to
97 Street, and the area was redeveloped according to a plan to create a "civic centre" in the area by constructing the new art gallery and library to accompany the new city hall which had been built in 1957.
In 1969,
Lillian Shirt drew national media attention for protesting housing discrimination by erecting a
tipi
A tipi , often called a lodge in English, is a conical tent, historically made of animal hides or pelts, and in more recent generations of canvas, stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The word is Siouan languages, Siouan, and in use in Dakot ...
on the square. During the protest, which lasted 12 days, was joined by several others who set up tents and an additional tipi.
Churchill Square has undergone several face-lifts, the most recent, expensive, and most controversial, being completed in 2004, in time for Edmonton's Centennial Celebrations. These renovations saw the removal of a large amount of green space, as well as the building of several new structures in the square including an
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
, a waterfall, as well as several structures for retail space (currently occupied by the Three Bananas Cafe and Tix on the Square).
Transportation
Churchill Square is well served by the
Edmonton Transit System
The Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) (previously known as Edmonton Transit System) is the public transit service owned and operated by the City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. It operates Edmonton's bus and light rail systems. In , the system had ...
, being located above
Churchill LRT Station, and also near a bus transfer point at
CN Tower
The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...
.
St. Albert Transit
St. Albert Transit (StAT) is the public transportation system in the city of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, which is located about northwest of downtown Edmonton. Scheduled bus service consists of local circuits within the community and express c ...
and
Strathcona County Transit also run three bus routes each (StAT routes 201, 202 & 211 & SCT routes 401, 402, & 413) past Churchill Square.
Currently under construction, the new
Valley Line LRT will expand
Churchill Station with an above-ground platform on the south end of the square on
102 Avenue.
Surrounding buildings
Although Churchill Square is not the name of any street in Edmonton, and all the streets in the area are named, the square is used as the address for buildings facing it, they are numbered clockwise starting in the north.
See also
*
List of city squares
The following is a partial list of prominent city squares:
Africa
Egypt
*Tahrir Square – Cairoin M
Ethiopia
*Meskel Square – Addis Ababa
*Mexico Square – Addis Ababa
Morocco
*Djemaa el Fna – Marrakech
South Africa
* Grand Parade â ...
References
*
{{Edmonton landmarks
Parks in Edmonton
Squares in Canada
Tourist attractions in Edmonton
Monuments and memorials to Winston Churchill