Located on 2nd Street in downtown Medicine Hat, Alberta, the Porter Block was constructed by James and Robert Porter in 1910. This brick and sandstone building originally housed a jewelry and watch shop on the main floor operated by G.W. Elliot. It was reported in the News at the time that the jeweler was one of the finest in all of Western Canada, and that all of the stores high-end fixtures were brought directly from Toronto.Much like many of the other old buildings downtown, the Porter Block has had substantial interior renovations and a number of different tenants in the last century. Today the building appears to be vacant (or being used for storage perhaps) and I imagine it received some damage after the Central Block burned down next door in 2007. It's similar to the old Pingle's building in that respect. It'll be interesting to see if anything becomes of this historic building in the years ahead.
2 comments :
The Central Block was two doors down. The lot next door is my property, which housed a smaller building that was razed due to fire damage from the Central Block fire.
Thank you for the update! I knew there had to be more in there, but couldn't find a record of the buildings other than the Central Block.
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