03/08/2024
HELLO FROM CALGARY, ALBERTA
It was a beautiful, sunny day in Calgary Thursday. I decided to explore more of the Beltline community of Calgary. The Beltline is a bustling, inner-city community, south of the downtown core, considered to still be in Downtown Calgary.
On my walk, I came across a beautiful sandstone building. I found out it was the DR. CARL SAFRAN CENTRE. It was originally named CENTRAL COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE and was the first structure in Calgary built specifically for secondary education. When it was completed in 1907, it was the most modern school in Calgary featuring a self-contained heating plant and indoor plumbing. I love its castle-like roofline and ornate carvings. It was designed by W.M. Dodd, who also designed Calgary City Hall. Like City Hall, it also has a clock tower and arched entrances. If you look closely at the photo I took, you'll notice one entrance is clearly marked for boys and the other for girls. The school name was changed to the Dr. Carl Safran Centre in 1972. Carl Safran was Alberta's first school psychologist and began the special education system in the province. He was also the Chief Superintendent of the Calgary Board of Education, wrote several key educational texts, and introduced culture-based intelligence tests that are used throughout the world. He has been called one of Alberta's great heroes of public education, and the school name pays tribute to him as a leading light in the field. Now part of the adjoining Calgary Board of Education office complex, the school was carefully restored to retain its original stairwells, skylights, and dark wood windows. My photo really shows the contrast between the old and new buildings.
I carried on a couple more blocks east and came to the LOUGHEED HOUSE NATIONAL & PROVINCIAL HISTORIC SITE. James Lougheed was in the Senate of Canada in 1889, appointed by Sir John A. Macdonald. He was appointed to replace the deceased Richard Charles Hardisty, Lougheed's wife's uncle.
In 1891, James Alexander Lougheed commissioned a new mansion on the outskirts of Calgary for his wife, Isabella Hardisty Lougheed, and their two sons, Clarence and Norman. Following the move to the large mansion, the Lougheeds had four more children: Edgar, Dorothy, Douglas and Marjorie, and the house was enlarged in 1907 to accommodate the family and their large social calendar. The interior of the 48-room house is decorated with Spanish mahogany, Italian marble, stained glass windows and doors, and hand-painted images of Alberta flora and fauna. It contained a billiards room, smoking room, drawing room, four large bedrooms on the second floor, and six large rooms on the third floor. The mansion quickly became the center of the Calgary social scene, hosting a number of parties and galas.
Lady Isabella Clarke Hardisty Lougheed was a Metis woman born at Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories in 1861. Her and her parents were members of a fur-trading family with ties to the Hudson's Bay Company. Isabella married James Alexander Lougheed on 16 September 1884, and soon after their marriage, James stepped into the Senate.
The Lougheed estate continued to own the property following James Lougheed's death in 1925 until 1934 when the estate was unable to pay the municipal property taxes and the City of Calgary took possession of the home. The City allowed Lougheed's widow and children to continue to live in the house until Isabella's death in 1936, and finally Norman A. Lougheed moved his family out in 1938.
Over its long history, Lougheed House served many roles, including as a family residence, a training centre for young women, a women's military barracks and a Red Cross blood donor clinic. For many years, it was cared for but sat empty. But in 1978, following the Alberta Provincial Historic Resource designation, the Province of Alberta took possession of the house and began restoring the property. The provincial government designation and purchase occurred during the Premiership of Peter Lougheed, James Lougheed's grandson. Despite the purchase, Peter Lougheed was reluctant to see public funds spent on restoring the house while he was premier.
The Lougheed House Conservation Society was created in 1995 after local lobbying began to see the mansion and grounds restored to their former glory. The City of Calgary purchased surrounding areas in the early 1990s with the intention of creating an outdoor public space, and construction began in 1997 to rebuild the Beaulieu Gardens, and restore the mansion.
As I made my way back, I couldn't resist taking another photo of the Cougar by Faith47, painted in 2018 during the BUMP Festival.This mural was painted on the outside of a condo building. The artist, Faith47, is from Cape Town, South Africa, and lives in Los Angeles. She is an internationally acclaimed muralist who began as a graphic designer when she was 19 years old. She has painted murals across the world in Canada, Europe, Africa, Australia, China, the United States, and more.
The next mural I saw was Sarah Slaughter's entitled "Sneaky Peek" on 12th Avenue. Her aim was to put a smile on the faces of people you walked or biked by. Smiling reduces stress and generates more positive emotions, and her colourful, quirky mural was designed to contribute to good health. The mural is a display of condominium-style birdhouses, with sneaky cats popping up in several spots. A singular little bird is successfully avoiding their daunting hunt, happily placed right in the middle. I, personally, have always liked this mural.
