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Contractor:
P. Lyall and Sons
Original
cost: $140,000
Construction materials:
Reinforced concrete construction. Red
brick.
Original interior
details:
This description appeared in local
newspapers at the time of the grand opening in January 1914. "The
basement is fitted up for shower baths and a barber shop. On the first
floor are travellers’ sample rooms. The second and third floors are
divided into offices and the fourth floor has been handsomely fitted up
as the home of the Commercial club. The block is steam heated and has an
up-to-date two-shaft elevator system…The club has 12 rooms, all of
which will be used for club purposes. There is a buffet and dining room,
a reading room, lounging room and other meeting and recreation rooms,
all of which have been beautifully finished and splendidly furnished.
The club has a membership of 300."
Historical highlights:
- The building, originally known as
the Commercial Travellers’ building, was constructed by the
Calgary branch (established in 1905) of the Northwest Commercial
Travellers Association of Canada. (NWCTA). Based in Winnipeg the
NWCTA was founded in 1882 " to secure travelling and personal
benefits for commercial travellers, manufacturers’ agents, sales
executives and proprietors of wholesaling and distribution
companies." Although the NWCTA created advisory boards in
B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1911, a group of Albertans
formed a rival organization called the Alberta Commercial
Travellers’ Association.
- Keen to avoid a split along
provincial lines, the NWCTA appointed the executive of the rival
Alberta association as provincial directors of the Canadian
association and promised to construct a building in Calgary.
- In January 1912, the Calgary
News Telegram ran a column announcing "Commercial
Travelers Will Erect a $100,000 Building in this City." It
was reported that "for some time past the need of a home for
the commercial men making Calgary their headquarters has been
keenly felt." The new building was to accommodate the
association’s offices, meeting and clubrooms for commercial
travellers, and rental space for commercial tenants and
manufacturers’ agents.
- Part of the land for the new
building had originally been the site of dentist R.B.O’Sullivan’s
residence. By 1911 the property belonged to local businessmen,
O.S.Chapin (treasurer of the Alberta Travelers Association), G.P
Ovans and W.J.Ovans. In 1912, the NWCTA bought the south 65 feet
for their new building.
- Excavation of the site was
completed in December 1912 and a building permit for "stores
office" was issued on April 6, 1913.
- The completed building opened in
January 1914. Initially it housed the NWCTA offices, sample rooms,
Commerical Club and a variety of residential and commercial
tenants including a the Attorney General’s Liquor License Branch
and Detective Department (1914 – 1916), the Seed Branch of the
Dominion Department of Agriculture (1916 – 1920) the Alberta
Government Vendors Store (1918), and the Provincial Police
Department (1920 – 1921).
- As a result of poor attendance,
the outbreak of World War I and prohibition, the Commercial club
closed in 1916 and the fourth floor was converted to offices.
- When the Calgary School Board
rented the building for the Commercial High School from 1926 to
1933, the NWCTA offices moved to the IOOF Building on Centre
Street. The School Board sub - let space to tenants like the
Calgary Public Museum (1928 – 1935).
- Toole, Peet and Co. took over
management of the building when the High School moved out in 1933
and many commercial tenants returned, including the NWCTA and the
United Commercial Travellers.
- The building never generated the
expected revenue and in 1938 the NWCTA considered converting it
into a 44 - suite apartment block.
- In 1943, the YWCA Blue Triangle
Service Women’s Leave Centre moved in, renovating the second and
third floors into dormitories, lounge rooms and a canteen.
- Around 1945 the building was sold
and converted into a 20 room residential hotel called the Hotel
Bliss.
- The Salvation Army renovated the
building after they bought it around 1948 (for a reported $67,000)
and in April 1949 opened a Men’s Hostel. The renovations
included the addition of a small chapel, reading room, separate
quarters for alcoholics, recreation facilities, a new entrance,
redecorating and general refurbishment. In 1952, those who could
pay were charged 40 cents a night for dormitory bed and $4.50 a
week for a private room.
- In 1954 a two – storey, addition
designed by Stevenson and Dewar was constructed on the north side,
consisting of workshops and a central salvage depot.
- Currently owned by the Salvation
Army, the building accommodates emergency and transitional
housing, a thrift shop, addictions rehabilitation services and
community meal programmes.
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