Yellowknife (May 20/05) - Another wedge of Yellowknife's bygone era will soon be erased by demolition crews.

The Knutsen sheet metal building on McDonald Drive across from the boat launch will be torn down within the next several months, according to Ken Weaver.

"My biggest concern is that it is a fire hazard and the building is in very bad repair," said Weaver, whose family owns the building.

"It's had its day and it is beyond repair. That's the simple truth of the matter." Built in 1946, the two-storey building served first as Hodgson's General Store which sold groceries and dry goods.

Weaver recalled at that at one point in the building's history, Jack and Betty Mullin ran it under the name "Mullin Rouge."

"It was something of an after hours club where they would play poker and get alcohol and sandwiches," he said. Weaver said it's unlikely that any structural artifacts from the house will be preserved.

Yellowknife city planner Dave Jones agreed that the building contains nothing of architectural significance. A demolition permit was issued last year.

"It's not the Wildcat Cafe. It doesn't have that log formation that a lot of people seem to equate to older buildings," he said.

Jones said the siding contained asbestos and it already has been removed.

Stephen Fancott, a Yellowknife architect, was with Ask Architects when the firm operated from the second floor of the building 20 years ago.

The building was hard to keep warm and also contained the first composting toilet in Yellowknife, he recalled.

Fancott would like to see whatever is built on the site fit in with the surrounding buildings.

"It resembles a town-square type area and it should be to scale with the existing landscape," he said.

The land is zoned Old Town mixed use; it could be residential, business or a combination of both. Weaver said there are no current plans to rebuild on the site.