Quartet of Calgary buildings declared historic resources including iconic Plaza Theatre

Four Calgary buildings have been declared historic resources in a unanimous vote by city council’s infrastructure and planning committee. 

The four include: the Cross residence, the Lawless residence, the Nimmons residence, and the Plaza Theatre.

According to Josh Traptow, CEO of Heritage Calgary, the owners of all four  have indicated that they are interested in receiving municipal historic designation. That designation places regulations on what sort of structural changes can be made to the buildings in the future.

The Cross residence is likely known to most current Calgary residents as the Rouge Restaurant. Located at 1240 8th Ave. S.E., it was originally the home of A.E Cross, the founder of Calgary Malting and Brewing, and one of the founders of the Calgary Stampede.

The Cross family lived in the house from 1899 up until the 1970s, when they donated it to the city, after which the building was used by Calgary Parks and the Calgary Horticultural Society.

"It's a great example of late 19th century Queen Anne revival style," said Traptow.

“The Cross family, of course, had a large impact (on Calgary)," he added. "Mary Dover (Cross’s daughter) was an alderman for many years on city council, and his son was also a (past) president of the Calgary Stampede.”

 

Rouge in Inglewood

NIMMONS RESIDENCE

Anyone living in south-central Calgary wlll be familiar with the Nimmons residence. The towering brick building sits on the corner of 14th Street and 18th Avenue S.W. It is the former home of William Nimmons. Originally built in 1898, the house has been moved to different locations on the site to accommodate development over the ensuing years.

“Nimmons had a ranch that extended from 17th Avenue to 26th Avenue and from 14th Street to Crowchild trail, so basically, over all of Bankview, and all those communities south of there," said Traptow.

The Nimmons Residence was built in 1898 and has been moved four times to accommodate construction of an 84-unit complex but still maintains its stature and view of downtown Calgary.

“It's really one of the rare surviving ranch houses in Calgary and one of the earliest remaining brick structures as well.“

The Plaza Theatre is a Calgary landmark in the Kensington business district. The Spanish colonial art-deco style building is one of the last remaining neighborhood movie houses in western Canada, and the only single screen movie house left in the city. 

“What I find really fascinating about this building is it actually used to be a garage and was rebuilt in 1934 to 1935 into the present day Plaza Theatre," said Traptow. 

“So even in the 1930s heritage buildings were being used when it came to adaptive reuse.”

The Lawless residence, located at 2326 15A Street S.E.in Inglewood was built in 1912. A pre-World War 1 home, it is considered an example of housing from what was known as “the age of optimism” (1906-1913)  

It is considered a modest working-class Edwardian cottage, and was originally built for train engineer William Lawless.

It is one of few remaining houses that exemplify Colonel James Walker’s 1910 ‘Inglewood’ subdivision.

Heritage designations are only assigned after the owner of a building approaches the city seeking the change. Once designated a heritage site, the building can still be adapted for new uses, or sold by the owners, but limits are placed on what sort of structural renovations can take place.

The addition of the four new heritage sites will bring Calgary's inventory of heritage buildings to 135.

Council as a whole will still have to approve the designations, however 14 of council’s 15 members were present at the committee meeting Wednesday, and all voted in favour of the designations.