Calgary Brewery history thread

[buffaloman]

Being born and raised in Calgary and watching as building after building is being torn down i feel it is time for us to say enough. There are other places for development that are not on a busy rail line and have little or no historical value. The developers come in here and try to run roughshod all over us telling us its for the good of the city. This is just a money grab for them. There are areas that need upgrading and developing but because they are not in the popular areas of the city they are neglected by developers. We lose to many buildings for no good reason. I would like to see part of this site opened up again to the public as a type of local history museum. This would help to raise funds for upkeep and repairs. I have seen the aquarium through the glass doors and feel this would be a great place to start. If this were to happen i would happily move my entire Calgary brewery collection into the building. I think some other Calgary collectors would be pleased to do the same. This is something that concerns all Calgarians, native and transplants. Get informed, save our past to enjoy in the future!

[Chris E]

I did a bit of aerial photo comparisons and came up with the following as far as changes to the site, and the general area in inglewood, over the years.



In this case, the reddish areas are between around 1952 and 1972, and the blue areas are from 1972 to the present. Uncoloured areas are pre-1950's.
With the one area with the diagonally striped markings, the building above that section used to extend through that area, but an addition comprising
of the striped plus blue areas to the left were put in, its unknown if the old section was torn down to built that new section, or if it's inside the new section.



In this case the colouring is somewhat reversed, and includes the rest of the 'block'.




These structures in the foreground were torn down sometime between 1951 and 1972.

~1905


2009


Both of these are from approx the same view. In historic photo, buildings to the right of the stack have been demolished, whereas buildings to the left are apparently
still intact underneath the metal siding.



Industries in East Calgary, looking East. Only the Brewery remains.


Helen Cross laying the cornerstone for the Brewery office building in 1907.


In 1956 she again participated in the dedication of the office extension.




Time capsule being placed in 1956, wonder if it's still there.


Calgary Brewing & Malting company logo on Brewery office


Old and new office sections

Old trading post cabins from circa 1870s, one on right is behind the Dean house in Inglewood today, one on left was moved to brewery site in the 1930s


2009







One of the Brewery garden bridges, 1970s

2009







2009

[Chris E]

View from the North East
1964


2009


View of South East corner
ca. 1923-1932


2009



South side of property
1940s


2009


Aquarium
1960s


2009

[00fxd]

Can anybody please tell how to get rid of the red x's in some of the pics as I would really like to see them. I have tried different browsers.
I was an employee of Kanes motorcycle shop in 2000 when it burnt to the ground. We were offered temporary accommodations for the business at the Brewery, we remained and carried on business in the Aquarium/Horseman’s Hall of Fame building for just about a year.
Man that brought back memories of my school and family visits in the 60's to that attraction. Back then it was a very popular family outing destination. We pick-niked in the park among other things
We only occupied the main floor but be had the run of the entire place. We were really were through entire facility because part of the deal was we were to cannibalize anything we needed throughout the entire place for our uses. We removed and installed many lighting fixture etc into the area we used.

It is massive inside brewing buildings, with very little light in most of the place. I never did completely feel comfortable that I knew where I was going at any given time. A couple of the guys got right into it and kinda became "brewery rats" as it were, and really knew their way around. The place was substantially as it was when the doors were locked in 1994[?] calendars on the wall, chemicals in the lab cabinets. Very much a time capsule but not that old. There is an add on office area that is 3 of 4 stories with offices that looked to have been built in the 30's. Each office had it's own washroom complete with 1930's sinks and fixtures. They were odd in that they didn't match the floors of the buildings that they were built on to. Up on the top 2[?] floors of the brewing towers there were some new additions complete with massive tanks that had never been used as well as upper floors that were built with no tanks installed yet.
Down in the bowels were almost catacombs of areas where I really got lost.
There is the old Alpine style hospitality room that was pretty spiffy in its time that I remember attending events in that has fallen into complete disrepair which is a shame.
And we went down the round stairs deep into the well where they got their water for the brew, supposedly it at one time had some properties that made a better beer. If anyone recalls the old motto: "It's the Water". One of our fellows recalled that the story on well now was after the Petro Canada tower went in down town it disturbed something and the water was never the same.
The manager lady who initially showed us around on the first day remarked that she shows people through there quite often but rarely had the pleasure of touring as knowledgeable a group of Calgarians around as this bunch of Harley trash
We did not get into to front office building with the Buffalo heads as it seemed that is was occupied. I think it was just administration for the entity of the brewery lands staffed by some folks that didn't have too much to do.

[00fxd]

I should also say that in my opinion, this is very much a heritage site in Calgary. I always thought that it is being severely under used - possibly a tax write of of some sort for some business group. There is massive amounts of storage, offices and other facilities in that complex that could easily be transformed into very useful space includeing brand new floors in the tower that is just dieing for development of some sort.

[Admin]

CHI made a FOIP request to receive the Historic Resource Impact Assessment which was completed two years ago on the brewery site. Unfortunately the report received was heavily redacted, leaving only a history of the site. Although the sought after information (current state of the site) wasn't part of the package received, the history is interesting and is posted below.