| Architect: Brown and Vallance of Montreal
(also designed Herald building which opened December
1913)
Contractor:
Fysche, McNeil, Martin
and Trainer. Dominion Bridge - steel work.
Original
cost: $200,000
Construction materials:
structural steel with
reinforced concrete foundation. North and east facades -
cream terracotta from Doulton Lambeth Pottery in London,
England. South and east walls - yellow brick.
Architectural style:
Edwardian commercial.
Chicago school influences. Extensive moulded terracotta
detailing. Local paper reported that "the ornamental
exterior was the first of the kind to be attempted in
Calgary." The facade features and the position of
the building on the lot emphasize the building's vertical
thrust. Windows are contained with tall, round - headed
arches which rise from the second to the sixth floor.
Original interior
details:
Six storeys and a
basement. Oak with selected use of fir and mahogany
(floors, wainscotting, door and window surrounds). Lobby
- Italian grey veined marble floor. Cast iron stairway
from 2nd to 6th floor. "the elaborate entrance
lobby, on the ground floor, stairs to the basement and to
the second floor are finished in grey marble and terrazzo
with upper walls, ceiling and vaulting of plaster."
Most impressive part of the building was the rotunda -
like entrance. Ceiling domed and articulated by stands of
plaster. Walls sheathed in marble.
Historical highlights:
- property originally
purchased from the city by William Head, a
plumber who had his business and residence here
from 1898 to 1910. It was subsequently owned by
wealthy real estate agent Thomas Skinner and
finally broker William Toole. In 1914, a local
paper reported that the Canada Life Assurance
Company broke price records for 8th Avenue
property when they paid $2,000 per foot for the
land in 1911.
- part of the pre -
World War I era construction boom when a number
of "skyscrapers" were built.
- only remaining
Alberta example of the work of architects Brown
and Vallance.
- occupies a key
corner site. Curved northeast corner with rounded
glass windows is unusual in Western Canada.
- by October 1913
building officially opened but only partially
occupied. Top three floors not completed for
several months. Canada Life moved in January 1,
1914.
- considered one of
the finest business blocks in Calgary. Tenants
included lawyers Macleod, Dixon, Farthy and
Tavender, Victor Lougheed, Eric Harvie, Toole,
Peete and Company investment offices, Western
Regional Office of the Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce and Hollinsworth Ladies Wear.
- Canada Life
Assurance Company building re-named Hollinsworth
for the realty company which owned it between
1947 and 1971.
- 1971-1978 owned by
National Trust Company.
- 1978 - building
acquired by Imperial Bank of Commerce as part of
a redevelopment site.
- 1979 designated as
a Provincial Historic Resource which may have
saved it from demolition.
- integrated into the
eastern end of Trizec's $350 million Bankers Hall
office and retail project. Although the interior
was completely renovated, the Hollinsworth's
exterior facade was restored and significantly
extended along both 8th Avenue and 2nd Street
S.W. New terracotta facing was prepared in
England from the original molds used in the 1913
construction. Interior floors were renovated by
the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and
components of the Canada Life entrance hall were
partially restored.
- Banker's Hall
complex officially opened September 12, 1989.
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