Guest Post: A Short History of Modern Architecture in Calgary
Written by Dr. Graham Livesey, Professor in the Master of Architecture Program (School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape) at the University of Calgary.
In our recent book entitled Canadian Modern Architecture: 1967 to the Present (Princeton Architectural Press, 2019), my co-editor Elsa Lam and I suggest that a distinctive modern Canadian architecture didn’t appear until the 1960s. Of course, prior to this there were distinguished Canadian architects such as Toronto-based John Lyle (1872-1945) and Montrealer Ernest Cormier (1885-1980) practicing in the 1920s and 1930s. Interestingly, one of Lyle’s most important buildings is his Bank of Nova Scotia building on Stephen Avenue Mall. By the late 1930s, modernist architecture arrived in Canada via Europe and the US. This resulted in the establishment of many important architectural practices across the country, including in Calgary.
The Bank of Nova Scotia Provincial Historic Resource. Provincial Archives of Alberta, P.4391.
After World War II modern architecture began to appear in Calgary, often in a hybrid style called “Moderne.” These first buildings were either houses such as the Skaken House (1947), or in the case of the Barron Building (1951) an office project associated with the early oil and gas business in the city. J.B. Barron was no doubt a visionary when he hired the firm of Cawston & Stevenson to design his office and theatre complex. Along with the Rule, Wynn & Rule practice, the Stevensen firm (and subsequent versions of it) would be important to the rapidly transforming fabric of the city. Other early examples include the Petro-Chemical Building (Stevensen & Dewar, 1956) and the Petro-Fina Building (Rule, Wynn & Rule, 1959). Several notable early office buildings built for oil and gas companies were demolished some time ago.
The Petro-Fina Building. Heritage Calgary, 2019.
Houses and housing projects were often the subject of early modernist experimentation, and Calgary retains several very fine examples from the 1940s and 1950s. The Mire Katchen Residence (Clayton, Bond & Mogridge, 1954) in Mount Royal is an excellent surviving example of mid-century modern architecture. The same can be said of the Rideau Towers apartments (1955), which were recently added to Heritage Calgary’s inventory, and the distinctive Trend House (Rule, Wynn & Rule, 1953).
Illustration from 1957 Trend House brochure, via the Trend House Chronicles.
In the 1960s a new generation of Calgary architects emerged, producing a more locally appropriate and distinctive architecture; these included celebrated figures such as Jack Long (1925-2001) and Gordon Atkins (1937-). Jack Long remains one of Calgary’s best-loved architects. He arrived in Calgary from the US in the early 1960s and became very involved in the community, becoming a mainstay in Inglewood and briefly a City Alderman. He produced a number of noteworthy houses in communities such as Eagle Ridge, designed the very fine Franklin House Apartments (1964), and won the competition for the Centennial Planetarium (with Hugh McMIllan, 1967). Unfortunately, a number of his projects have not fared well. His Calgary Remand Centre/Provincial Judges Court (1969) was demolished several years ago to make way for a project by Bow Valley College, and his Graham-Brown residence (1963) on Sifton Boulevard was destroyed in the 2013 flood. There are other projects by Long that have not been well-maintained or inappropriately renovated.
Centennial Planetarium. 1970, R. Hopf. Designed by Calgary architectural firm McMillan, Long and Associates.
Gordon Atkins, who began his practice in the early 1960s, would also produce an important body of work and win several national design awards. Examples from the period include the Eugene Coste Elementary School Addition (1966); his brutalist Mayland Heights Elementary School (1968); the remarkable Drahanchuk house and studio in Bragg Creek (1967); and the Leavitt House (1969). Buildings such as the Eugene Coste school and the Leavitt house have both suffered from detrimental renovations in recent years. Atkins’ Indian Friendship Building (1978) in downtown Calgary was empty for many years until it was demolished recently, while the Shouldice Athletic Change Pavilion (1982) is holding its own in Shouldice park, despite new facilities that have been added around it.
Mayland Heights Elementary School. Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources.
Much of Calgary’s modern architectural legacy, created usually by local firms, is in jeopardy of being lost. Some important buildings have already been demolished or suffered ignoble changes. Heritage Calgary has a number of crucial modern works on the Inventory, however, there are many more examples, both unique and ordinary, that need identification and protection. A city must protect its heritage across its entire history, and across the spectrum of building types and styles; raising awareness about Calgary’s rich post-War architectural history is key.
Graham Livesey is a Professor in the Master of Architecture Program (School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape) at the University of Calgary. He has written and edited extensively on modern architecture and urbanism, with two books of essays (including the recently published Ecologies of the Early Garden City) and two large architectural anthologies for Routledge. He is also the co-editor (with Elsa Lam) of the book Canadian Modern Architecture, 1967 to the Present published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2019. Livesey is a regional correspondent for Canadian Architect magazine. In 2019 he was elected to the College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Graham has served as a board member of Heritage Calgary since 2019.