| Architect: Alexander Pirie of Calgary.
Contractor: McDougall and Forster
Ltd.
Original
cost: $200,000
Original
owner:
Oscar Grant Devenish, a
real estate and oil man who came to Calgary about 1903
from Spokane, Washington and died here in 1951.
Construction materials:
Alberta brick, Calgary
sandstone trim, concrete foundation.
Architectural style:
Gothic/castle style.
Crenellated turrets at each corner and decorative
parapets in the front facade contribute to the
castle-like appearance.
Original interior
details:
Double maple floors,
birch and mahogany doors, leaded glass doors and built in
bookshelves. Many modern conveniences for the period -
freight elevator, central hot water heating system,
self-contained garbage incinerator, a steam laundry for
tenant's use and sun rooms.
Historical highlights:
- Allegedly built on
a buffalo kill site.
- Advertised in 1911
as the "finest and most up-to-date structure
of its kind."
- 57 three and five
room suites; 12 in the basement and 15 on each of
the other three floors.
- Each suite had a
foyer, dressing room, large clothes presses, six
foot dressing mirrors, a brass Murphy bed which
folded into the wall. Dining room had elaborate
sideboard complete with leaded glass panes in the
china cabinet, that also concealed a double bed
in its bottom cupboard.
- Purchased for $2.5
million in 1980, renovated ($1.75 million) and
converted from apartments to a shopping centre
which opened in October 1981.
- $1.75 million spent
renovating and October 1981 Devenish Design
Centre opens housing 30 specialty shops.
- Designated a
Provincial Historic resource August 3, 1982.
|
Devenish Apartments