| Architect:
George
MacDonald Lang , the Calgary architect who also designed Firehall # 1- 3.
Original owner: Calgary Brewing and Malting Company.
Original cost: $125,000 including furnishings.
Construction materials:
Red brick façade, sandstone
keystone and lintels, concrete sills, wooden pillars.
Original interior
details:
The local newspaper of 1915
described the interior of the hotel. "The building has sixty – four rooms, each
completely furnished with beds. The dining room on the main floor is the largest dining
room of any in Calgary with the exception of the Palliser hotel while the lobby is one of
the largest in the city with a southern exposure. In the basement, there is a large
bowling alley, while on the main floor there is a big billiard room fully equipped with
tables. There are six baths and three lavatories on the basement floor and five baths and
lavatories on each of the floors above. In addition to the big, sunny lobby on the main
floor there are also two sitting rooms and the kitchen is one of the most completely
equipped throughout from linen to table ware, china, and culinary utensils."
Historical highlights:
The original building permit listed the
hotel’s name as the Mokinstsis, for one of the brewery’s brands of beer. By the
time it opened it had been re-named the Ogden, after Issac Gouverneur Ogden, a senior
official with the Canadian Pacific Railway.
- The Ogden served as a meeting place for brewery workers
and employees of the Railway’s Ogden shops which were constructed in 1912 –
1913.
- In 1915, the shareholders of the Calgary Brewing and
Malting Company donated the hotel to the Canadian Red Cross Society for temporary use as a
military convalescent hospital for veterans of the Boer War and World War I.
- The brewery’s Vice – President, William Roper
Hull, formally offered the building and contents to the Society on October 19th
1915. Alberta’s Lieutenant - Governor elect, Dr. R. G. Brett, President of the
Alberta branch of the Red Cross, accepted the offer with " an inspiring
address." He emphasized that " of all the things most necessary for the soldier
that could be done by the various patriotic associations, the task of looking after the
wounded veterans who returned from the front was perhaps the most important." The
interior was decorated for the opening with Union Jacks and bunting. The Young
Women’s Benevolent Society served tea to the guests.
- The home was staffed by civilians and managed by nursing
matrons Gertrude Markle and Marion Moodie. During 1916 alone 272 soldiers were cared for
at the home.
- The Ogden Convalescent Hospital closed in 1919 and by 1920
the building reverted to hotel use. The veterans were transferred to the Colonel Belcher
Hospital located in the renovated Fairbanks Morse Warehouse at 538 8th Avenue
S.W.
- In 1935, the brewery sold the hotel to the provincial
government for use as a single men’s relief hostel. The hostels, established by the
Alberta government in 1932 during the depths of the depression, provided a temporary haven
for destitute men trying to re-establish themselves in the work force and the community.
In 1959, the province – wide program cost $221, 896.
- The Ogden Hostel closed in 1968 following a lengthy public
debate about living conditions at the facility. On October 16th the hostel
moved to a new $1,000,000 three - storey building at 6th St. S.E. and 7th
Avenue with accommodation for 270 men.
- By 1970, the Ogden was renamed the Alyth in reference to
the local CPR station and converted to retail and apartment use.
- In 1976 a $3 million proposal to restore the building and
convert the main floor to a pub was turned down by city hall.
- In November 1998 the Ogden Hotel \ Alyth Lodge was awarded
a Community Heritage Plaque. The Heritage Plaque program was initiated in 1991 by the City
of Calgary’s Heritage Advisory Board to commemorate and raise awareness of the
city’s heritage. The sites recognized each year are selected by Calgary Community
Associations, Business Revitalization Zone Boards and Local History interest groups.
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