Description of Historic Place

Calgary City Hall is an early twentieth-century, four-storey sandstone building with a central clock tower. It is located within Calgary's downtown civic complex alongside other municipal buildings. It is constructed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style and features a rough sandstone exterior, rows of recessed windows, arches and a red, pressed metal tile roof.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the old Calgary City Hall lies in its association with Calgary's historic status as the urban and economic centre in southern Alberta, and its architectural significance as a monumental civic building.

Calgary City Hall is of historical significance largely due to Calgary's pre-eminent position in southern Alberta. As the leading urban centre in this region, Calgary both benefited from and demonstrated the economic, political and social development of that area of the province. The civic booster movement was popular in many western North American towns and cities during the early years of the twentieth century and the construction of such a solid and imposing a building as City Hall served as a dramatic statement about the dynamic future of Calgary and Alberta. Built in order to keep pace with growing municipal services, the building originally housed the mayor and aldermen, city government offices, the police department, law courts and the municipal telephone system. However, by 1913, the building was already too small to house these civic services. City Hall also represents the continuous presence of local government since 1885. Prior to the construction of the current building, a wood-frame civic building occupied the same location. Officially opened by federal leader of the opposition, and future Prime Minister of Canada, Robert L. Borden, Calgary City Hall is the oldest extant city hall in Alberta.

Calgary City Hall is architecturally significant for many reasons. Constructed from 1907 to 1911, its solidity and monumental appearance were meant to reflect the belief that Calgary was to be the dominant urban centre in the region. Designed by architect William M. Dodd, the building embodies the Richardsonian Romanesque style, which was favoured in North America for large public buildings. Aspects of the building that reflect the architectural style are the single massive clock tower, heavy exterior walls faced with rough-hewn stones, bands of recessed windows, heavy stone verandas and balconies, a deeply recessed front entry, and semi-circular arches with large stone voussoirs with keystones over many windows and entries. The building has a steel structural frame, which supports exterior walls of brick and locally-quarried sandstone. Calgary was often referred to as the "Sandstone City" due to the prevalent use of sandstone in many of its early public and commercial buildings. Calgary City Hall is one of the few remaining sandstone buildings of this scale in Alberta, and the last monumentally-scaled early civic building in western Canada. While the interior of the building has undergone significant design changes, the integrity of the exterior of the building has been well maintained.

Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 242)

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the site's heritage value include its:
- heavy exterior walls faced with rough-hewn square stones,
- single, massive clock tower with pyramidal roof centrally located on the front facade, flanked by twin two-storey stone verandas;
- steeply-pitched roof of red-coloured pressed metal tiles with a centrally located glass dome and lantern and four small cupolas oriented towards each corner of the building;
- highly ornamented gable dormers with double windows and sculptural elements such as mini-turrets and floral carvings;
- fenestration pattern of bands of recessed arched windows with voussiors and keystones and simple rectangular windows;
- deeply recessed front entrance flanked by double ionic columns of polished red granite accessed by stone stairs with heavy stone railings and twin wrought iron lampposts;
- red granite date stone bearing inscriptions of "1907" and the names of civic officials of that period;
- keystone of front entry arch carved with 1907, the word CALGARY and the city's coat of arms;
- cornice with dentils encircling the building;
- two-storey south-facing veranda with double ionic columns and upper stone railing bearing the inscription "CITY HALL";
- single-storey north-facing veranda;
- heavy use of locally-quarried sandstone, a reflection of the prevalence of sandstone construction in Calgary's early public and commercial buildings.
- central location in Calgary and site of the continuous presence of civic government since 1885.