9704 - 106 Street
Richard Foote was in Edmonton by the time a building boom began after 1903. The young bricklayer went to work on the Alberta Hotel on Jasper Avenue. Later, as a contractor, he led the construction of Edmonton's Civic Block, St. Mary's High School, Athabasca Hall at the University of Alberta, as well as the psychiatric hospital at Ponoka. Married twice with seven children, Foote served as an alderman from 1934 to 1936, and then worked as an assistant city building inspector, retiring four years before his death in 1948.
Foote built this Foursquare residence in 1907, and moved into it one year later. The overhanging eaves, open veranda, square columns, and symmetrical design typify the Prairie-style architecture of the era. Unique to Foote's design are the dormers and widow's walk on top of the pressed sheet metal bell cast roof that flares out at the bottom, and the ground floor level brick banding, or rustication. Note the multiple paned bay windows: a distinctive front-facing one, and on the south side, one with a subtle curve.
