SAIT Heritage Hall (Built Early 1920s)

The stately structure that is the focus of this “Then & Now” is buried deep within a Calgary campus and known as SAIT Heritage Hall. Earlier home to the Alberta Normal School and Provincial Institute of Technology, today it’s just one part of the sprawling Southern Alberta Institute of Technology complex. It’s a huge place and one can easily get lost if they’re not paying attention.

This building once stood pretty much alone on the prairie and that’s hard to believe looking at it now. High on a bluff and overlooking the downtown core, one could easily see it from nearly any point within the city back then. That’s thanks to its lofty location on North Hill and bold design. Simply, it had a prominence, up there for all to see, and commanded attention. Not so much today and it kind of gets lost in the clutter. Surrounded by high towers, huge parking lots and the like, it’s almost being swallowed up by its surroundings.

Heritage Hall dates from the early 1920s and built to house the aforementioned Institute and Alberta Normal School (more on what that is below). Each occupied one of the two wings. They shared the facility for some years but the latter moved out permanently early in the 1960s. Soon afterwards, the Institute changed its name to SAIT and later still to SAIT Polytechnic. It’s Connie’s Alma mater.

During World War Two the building functioned to train wireless operators for the British Commonwealth Air Training Program. Regular classes were not held again until hostilities were over.

The building started being called Heritage Hall in the mid 1980s and close to that time, also became a recognized historic site. At various points it was expanded upon and in the early part of the twenty first century, completely renovated. It’s a fine building and a real standout. There’s plenty of modern architecture on campus, and some of it rather drab, but here we’re gazing on a special place.

The building’s skeleton is of steel and concrete whereas the outer walls are a façade of brick and sandstone. These latter materials were common to the era and used in many classic buildings constructed in Calgary at the time.

Made in a Gothic style – specifically Collegiate Gothic – two large towers flank the main entrance and this is a commonly seen feature of this design philosophy.

“Despite the prevalence of Collegiate Gothic architecture in post-secondary education, Heritage Hall is the only example in Calgary.” Canada’s Historic Places.

Other Gothic elements include a castellated look, arches, pinnacles, parapets and detailed stone work. Today, buildings are often simple slab type monoliths, with minimal accent elements, but back then they did it different. The work and skill that went into it is something unrivaled today.

This building became the second location for both the Institute and the Normal School. Before coming here they operated out of various public schools but this proved inadequate.

A Normal School, by the way, is used to train teachers. In the context the word “norm”, is a term used to define the standards to which those being trained would subscribe to. It’s a common philosophy, methods and manner in which it’s all done.

In the old shot one can see how the grounds were at the time and shows the building sort of alone and up there on the open prairie. It clearly displays signs of doctoring (“shopping” is nothing new), but none the less, it still represents the scene at the time accurately. Imagine yourself back then, spin around and you’d see there’s pretty much nothing close by.

We attempt to duplicate the shot and in spite of the sprawl on the SAIT grounds today, we were able to get all of it entirely within frame. Trees block some of the view, but not other structures. That’s surprising given the time that’s passed and the present building density on campus. Still, the construction fence sort of gets in the way, and may hint at other stuff coming soon that could later impede this view.

Presented below, two images shot about a century apart, and taken from about the same location. We love saying that and especially when things work out well as they did here.

There used to be a field out in front of the building, but now there’s an arena on one side and a combo parking garage with a soccer field atop on the other. A wide walkway now leads to Heritage Hall and is directly centred with the main doorway. A promenade with benches, gardens, trees, and the big SAIT pinball can be found in front today. In old pictures it was quite the contrast and there appeared to be nothing around but the building itself.

The “Then” image is an old postcard and comes thanks to the University of Calgary. SAIT doesn’t seem to keep old records of self, so it appears some of its visual history is in the hands the enemy. Interestingly, the University of Alberta at Calgary, processor to present day UofC started out by leasing space within this very building post World War Two. The UofC has grown to have the biggest campus in town and is not terribly far away from SAIT.

The postcard is undated, but we suspect it’s from fairly early on and we’ll comment more on this in a moment. The building looks rather new then and no one can argue that. The print is hand tinted, so a black and white image later painted to appear as though shot in colour. It’s a technique used extensively in the first few decades of the twentieth century and before colour printing became economical. Or practical. Things were not so simple in the old days and something we need a constant reminder of.

Valentine Edy Company of Winnipeg Manitoba published the postcard and the firm a well known name in the industry. Just look on any postcard collecting site and you’ll see references to them pop up all over the place. Formed out of an earlier postcard firm half way into the 1920s they lasted in to the ’50s. While the postcard came from Valentine Edy, the image may have been carried over from the earlier Valentine and Sons firm (in many incarnations) which came before. Reprints were common.

Postcards were big business back in the day and were used as a medium for quick little messages by post. Often one tried to pick a card with an image in context with what’s being said. So if you’re sending a family greeting about your recent trip to Calgary, you would surely pick a postcard with a scene from this same community. Makes sense? Postcards usually promoted something, even if subtly, whereas others were thinly veiled advertisements and more direct.

SAIT is a technical college (so for hands on stuff) and while this is not their only campus in the city, it’s the main one and where most of the 14k students attend.

Know more (new tab): SAIT Calgary Heritage Hall and Collegiate Gothic Architecture.

They’re saying…

“(It) always amazed to see what these two manage to find out about in the history of Alberta” Candy Belliveau.

More like this…
Mewata Armoury Downtown Calgary.
Downtown Bawlf Alberta.
Then & Now: Three Hills Alberta.

If you wish more information on what’s seen here, don’t hesitate to: contact us!

Date of Adventure: 1920s(probably) and October 2022.
Location(s): Calgary, Alberta.
Article references: Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, HistoricPlaces.ca, Toronto Postcard Club and University of Calgary Archives.

SAIT Heritage Hall about a century apart.

These hallowed halls…

In the Collegiate Gothic style of architecture.

Which way to the arcade?