Every year the City of Edmonton auctions properties that have unpaid taxes and the event coming this fall has a famous local house on the list.
Overlooking Hawrelak Park and the North Saskatchewan River valley is 8638 Saskatchewan Drive — the historic, former home of original Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington.
That’s where, on April 20, 1982, Pocklington and his wife Eva, along with two other people in the home, were held hostage at gunpoint for half a day.
Eva was the intended target of the gunman, who was demanding millions of dollars from the high-profile NHL team owner.
Global News, back then ITV, was on scene for hours during the high-profile hostage-taking, during which Eva escaped and was ushered away from the property by police.
“The killer took me in the garage,” she stated breathlessly while fleeing with the officers. “I’m supposed to be getting in the truck. And he said he’d go back and kill them if I tried anything.”
After nearly 12 hours, tactical officers snuck into the house and left a ransom to lure the suspect out. Police also fired a single shot, which went through Pocklington’s arm and into the gunman.
Both suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Pocklington gave shirtless a news conference about the ordeal from his hospital room, where reporters and photographers crowded around his bed.
“To me, that’s part of our history in the city. Peter, the Oilers, the epic things that probably went on in this house,” said Sally Munro, the realtor for the luxury home in the Windsor Park neighbourhood near the University of Alberta.
The original home on the lot was built in 1912 and Munro said it went through several transformations. The current home, built in 1952, is a 5,200-square-foot, three-storey Tudor-style mansion.
It features seven bedrooms and bathrooms and two other half-baths.
There’s a basement wine cellar, sun room overlooking the river, multiple living rooms, an expansive patio and an outdoor pool that has seen better days.
Pocklington sold the home in 1991 and it has been in that owner’s possession for the 35 years since.
The home is now on the city’s list of nearly 300 properties that may be included in the tax auction sale taking place Oct. 29 at city hall.
Per the Municipal Government Act, the city may hold a public auction of properties that have a caveat on the title due to unpaid property taxes that are overdue by at least a year.
