We post about great neighbours and living in one of the best parts of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Across the street from beautiful Victoria Park in the City of Regina’s vibrant downtown, The Balfour is one of the few provincially- and municipally-designated heritage buildings converted to condominiums in Saskatchewan's capital city in Western Canada. The Balfour Condominium Corporation is governed by a volunteer board of directors with the building itself operated by a contracted property management company and other volunteers. The Balfour Condominium Corporation's ongoing goals are: to improve its building for its residents; and to build a greater sense of community inside its heritage property and within the community it shares with its neighbours. The Balfour (also know as Balfour Apartments, although it’s now a condominium building) is on the border of the Regina Downtown BID (https://reginadowntown.ca) and Centre Square neighbourhoods and surrounded by:
- Regina's Warehouse District (https://www.warehousedistrict.ca) to the north;
- the Heritage Community Association neighbourhood (https://heritagecommunityassociation.com) to the east;
- the Downtown Community Association - Regina (https://www.facebook.com/dcaregina) and Wascana Centre (http://wascana.ca) to the south; and
- the Cathedral Area Community Association neighbourhood (https://www.cathedralvillage.org) to the west. In other words, The Balfour is in the heart of the Queen City where more than 100 people at any given time call this heritage condominium building home. Those residents live near these wonderful neighbourhoods, which have great shopping, parks, restaurants, live music, live theatre, a thriving craft b**r scene, museums, galleries, outdoor markets, other cultural amenities, along with quick shuttle transit access to nearby Mosaic Stadium for Saskatchewan Roughriders games, large concerts and other special events. It’s all thanks to The Balfour’s fantastic location near Victoria Avenue and Lorne Street across the street from a vibrant green space in the centre of Regina where annual concerts and festivals also take place. However, the site of the City of Regina was previously called Wascana (Buffalo Bones in Cree). The area was an important place where roaming bison herds were hunted by Indigenous people. They began to stack the long bison bones into large piles to honour the animals’ spirit, as the herds were becoming depleted due to overhunting by non-Indigenous hunters. Indigenous peoples named the area oskana ka-asastēki, which roughly translates to “bone piles.” European explorers, fur traders and settlers translated this to Pile of Bones. (https://www.regina.ca/about-regina/regina-history-facts/)
The site was renamed Regina in 1882 in honour of Queen Victoria. This decision was made by Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Louise, who was the wife of the Governor General of Canada, the Marquess of Lorne. Regina became a city in 1903. Two years later, Saskatchewan became a province. Regina was chosen as the capital. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina,_Saskatchewan)
Today, these various names are part of the businesses, streets and other organizations in the community surrounding our heritage building. The Balfour sits along Victoria Avenue and just north of Wascana Lake, which are all on Treaty 4 territory and the traditional home of the Métis. Various character condominiums for sale or rent
Since The Balfour was converted to a condominium building around the 1990s, all units are for sale or rent by individual owners. Units range from traditional bachelor suites, to one bedrooms, to others with multiple bedrooms or bathrooms. Parking stalls and in-suite laundry services vary by unit. The Balfour has common laundry rooms, bike storage and a large deck with a barbecue and flowers - nicknamed Balfour Blooms - for all residents’ use and enjoyment. To find a unit for sale or rent, it’s best to check online or traditional real estate ads. Although the occasional ad by owner will appear on The Balfour page. History
James Balfour was a prominent attorney and a former mayor of Regina. His name is the moniker of this building, which sits on the site of his former home. In the late 1920s, he commissioned Saskatchewan architectural firm Van Egmond and Storey to design The Balfour. The majority of construction is believed to have been completed in 1929. Some records indicate it wasn't until 1930 that everything was actually finished. Suites occupancy began in late 1929, but are believed to only have been fully occupied by sometime in 1930. As such, available historical records and newspaper clippings are ambiguous to define a clear date for either one of these milestones. Since people make communities and neighbourhoods real places, 1930 is celebrated as The Balfour’s anniversary year. For a time, The Balfour was the tallest and largest apartment building in Saskatchewan until the mid-1950s. Much of the brick for the building came from the Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site, which is about 100 km southwest of Regina. Brick from the plant was also used in a series of other luxurious residences and hotels, such as the Bessborough in Saskatoon and the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. Interestingly, although not part of The Balfour itself, refractory brick also from Claybank was used in the lower levels of the launch pads for NASA's Saturn V rockets that took astronauts to the moon during the Apollo missions. The Balfour was also the first apartment building in Regina at the time with self-operated elevators. In fact, the former Provincial Heritage Property Plaque placed in 1993 near the building’s north Victoria Avenue entrance cites the elevators as then “state-of-the-art technology.” The building is also designated a Municipal Heritage Property by the City of Regina. Notable residents and visitors
In the late 1940s, The Balfour housed James R. Riddle, vice consul, U.S. Consulate, in Unit 501, according to Henderson's Greater Regina Directory found online at Peel’s Prairie Provinces. (http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/index.html)
Former U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was in Regina in March 1949 and in her My Day newspaper column referenced meeting and staying with Riddle:
"Our vice consul, James R. Riddle, and his wife met us in Regina when we arrived there Tuesday afternoon and we stayed with them." (My Day newspaper columns, see March 4, 1949 entry: https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/1949/)
Roosevelt's stay at The Balfour is also referenced in the A Regina Leader-Post newspaper, which covered her trip:
- Feb. 28, 1949 Regina Leader-Post article:
https://www.facebook.com/share/16xn2fxihg/
- March 2, 1949 Regina Leader-Post article:
https://www.facebook.com/share/173NU3Fwtm/
In 2010, Academy Award winning actor Forest Whitaker spent time in The Balfour, as it was used as a location for a movie he starred in called Lullaby for Pi. Here are some scenes from the movie: https://youtu.be/WtaeZDsiddw
Movie trailer: https://youtu.be/iuscTr0zuFE
For more about The Balfour’s history and photos:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.471978553007450&type=3
https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=2709
https://reginadowntown.ca/downtown-regina-cultural-trailway/
