There’s a cool old building in South Calgary we’ve passed a gazillion times but paid little mind, even if we did think it interesting. Then one day, after seeing some century-old homes just a block over getting demolished, comes a cold hard reminder that nothing’s forever. Procrastinating is a slippery slope and with the future always uncertain at best, maybe one day we’ll drive by and see it gone. Time to act. Now where the heck’s the camera?
Here’s a building that still used, an old electrical substation supplying the needs of this section of the city much as it has done for some ninety years. The main structure, made of cast concrete (a fire and explosion mitigation measure), dates from 1930 with an addition from 1959. There’s perhaps hints of Spanish Colonial Revival stylings in the older building, whereas the newer shouts Mid-Century. Love those multi-colour glass blocks. In spite of the architectural differences, it works with those two completely different parts, dare we say, complimenting each other.
While it seems like their future is assured – we found no evidence the city was looking to rid themselves of the pair – the rest of the neighbourhood is going through a dramatic transformation. The gentrification monster is lurking, with trendy condos replacing many find old (and serviceable) homes at an alarming rate. It’s called progress I guess.
Not far away, an old coke machine circa 1960s or thereabouts. The stuff we find in alleys! Remember these as a kid…ten cents, maybe twenty, or a quarter got you a cold one in those old-school glass tall-necks with the pop top. Malaise era car bumpers made good bottle openers.
Short Subjects: reports that for any number of reasons are brief in nature. They might be updates to older articles, previews of posts planned or not yet published, brief snippets of things that don’t fit in anywhere else or subjects that are so obscure that information on them can’t be found. Or sometimes we just ramble on about Lord knows what.
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Date of adventure: April, 2019 Location: Calgary, AB
We took a walk from our house in Bankview this evening with this building as the turnaround point. My oldest boy has become a bit of an Electrical History buff and wanted to check it out. Pretty empty inside. Snapped a few photos. Popped around the back in the alley on the north and surprise! A black and silver Boler was hiding backed up against the building. We also noticed 2 short sections of rail set into the concrete from the alley to the building. We wondered what they may have been for. Our best guess was for moving heavy equipment from the alley over to the big brown door. Interesting building for sure and nice the plaque is still on the front.
Very cool! Yes, we saw those rails and think you are right in that they supported a trolley used to move heavy things about. A Boler? No way! You know what we’ll be doing tonight!
I was in there just before Christmas. It’s a storage facility for the city now. It still has the original floors and a vault in the basement. The windows are very cool.
That could be so. Still, I suspect it was built to serve the entire neighbourhood verses for transit alone. Street cars were running in the area long before the substation came on line so seemingly they already had the power needed.
Beer Parlour Project Friday🍺: The Thorsby Hotel, built in 1929 & a photo by the manager's 7 years old daughter. More below 👇
Agreema politely asked if she could shoot a few photos & we obliged. A dark environment like this is very unforgiving & the camera she used quite temperamental, so she did an amazing job. We're out of work as photographers! Great food at this place, BTW!
Beer Parlour Project Friday🍺: The Tofield Hotel, built in 1912 & patron Lana, shot on Rob's vintage view camera. More below 👇
She's a sweetie & met her late husband at the hotel. The building from the alley side hasn't changed much since being built but the front brickwork is now covered by siding.
Crossley slides (unrestored), an unnamed fellow snacking on Sun-Maid Raisins - mountains of BC - 1950s. More below 👇
The distinctive red box is instantly recognizable! The location is listed as the Whitewater Valley & we think it's in the Sandon area close to Retallack. Perhaps some of our friends out that way can confirm. Sandon B.C., would Hal know? Crossley frequented Sandon so the location makes sense. Note the (mine?) road cutting across the slope in back. The slide is dated 1955 in the catalogue but 1956 on the frame.
Shout out to: Jason Sailer. _______
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Chris.
An old section of Highway #6 (BC) in the 1970s & 2021 - it's the second most shared post in our entire history! More below 👇
The original photo shows the road about the time it was decommissioned. This was always a troublesome section & so it got replaced by a new route further up the hill. While it hasn’t seen a car in eons, it remains overall in reasonable shape, save for some rockfall in places like this. These came down about ten years ago.
Happy Holidays from Off the Beaten Path w' Chris & Connie. Thanks for your continued support & encouragement. More 👇
🎄 🎄 🎄
CPKC's Holiday Train from a few nights ago. Rather than fight the crowds to see it, we wanted something a little more intimate. A bit of hike, but we brought mulled wine to help us keep warm while waiting. It's not a great shot & originally we had no intent to share it here, but what the heck.
Trainspotting is like fishing. It's not about the catch but rather getting out. If a train comes by, great, but if not, we had each other & a chance to get away from the day's problems. That's a BIG win in our books...even if we did freeze our bottoms off. _______
Out exploring with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Chris.
We took a walk from our house in Bankview this evening with this building as the turnaround point. My oldest boy has become a bit of an Electrical History buff and wanted to check it out. Pretty empty inside. Snapped a few photos. Popped around the back in the alley on the north and surprise! A black and silver Boler was hiding backed up against the building. We also noticed 2 short sections of rail set into the concrete from the alley to the building. We wondered what they may have been for. Our best guess was for moving heavy equipment from the alley over to the big brown door. Interesting building for sure and nice the plaque is still on the front.
Very cool! Yes, we saw those rails and think you are right in that they supported a trolley used to move heavy things about. A Boler? No way! You know what we’ll be doing tonight!
That is a neat looking building
Sure is!
Nice. I’ve never seen this building.
It’s nice, eh?
I always drive by this building and have snapped a few shots myself and wondered what it was because it didnt look like a house like what is beside it
Both buildings are part of the substation, the brown one a latter addition.
It has a neat look to it. I like the shape of the windows and slightly fancy facade. Are those little lights on the face of the brown building?
It’s charming in its own right. Those are coloured glass blocks lit from the inside.
I was in there just before Christmas. It’s a storage facility for the city now. It still has the original floors and a vault in the basement. The windows are very cool.
That’s awesome, thanks for sharing this!
When I glanced at your post I thought the white building was a home. Nice that it is still functioning.
That would be one indestructible house!
It was built for the street car system.
That could be so. Still, I suspect it was built to serve the entire neighbourhood verses for transit alone. Street cars were running in the area long before the substation came on line so seemingly they already had the power needed.
Seems often older is better.
Not always in every case, but mostly so! Haha.
Nice Art Deco building.
It’s simple, yet elegant.