Landmark's future uncertain
Canmore's push for infrastructure may lead to destruction of 'The Ho'
Robert Remington
Calgary Herald
Monday, December 05, 2005
Aaron Goss patiently waited at the bar for five shots of bourbon to be poured, one for each member of the Winnipeg band the D.Rangers, and shook his head.
"It makes me not want to come to Canmore anymore," said the musician, offering his view on the impending sale of the historic Canmore Hotel.
"This place is an island of humanity in a gentrified wasteland. It's our favourite room in the country. We're all a little concerned."
The Canmore Hotel, second only to Edmonton's Strathcona Hotel as the oldest hotel in Alberta still operating as such, might soon be gone, replaced by condos and high-end stores. An
offer on the historic building has been accepted by the current owners and, if the sale closes by Dec. 15, the valuable property on Canmore's main street -- a focal point of the mountain town's social life since 1890 -- could be as distant a memory as "two-and-a-juice."
Although the prospective buyers have not come forward with their intentions for the property, the fear is that the site is simply too valuable to be maintained as a funky tavern and music venue with a handful of $45-a-night-rooms occupied mainly by itinerant musicians.
How tragic. If the Canmore Hotel goes, with it goes a piece of Canmore's soul, not to mention its most visible link to its past. The hotel has defined the look and feel of the town's main street for 115 years. It served as a hospital during the flu epidemic of 1918 and was once run by a woman, Mary Rodda, who battled the mores of her time to become one of the first women allowed to operate a bar in Alberta. She died in October at age 97, leaving behind a reputation for keeping rowdy coal miners and railway workers in line when they'd had too much to drink.
"It's too bad. This has always been a place for the working man," says Art Prozny, a local taxi driver who has lived in the Bow Valley since 1957 and remembers buying beer for 10 cents a glass. The coal miners are gone now, replaced by resort homeowners from England, Germany, Calgary and Texas.
The real pity is that nobody in Canmore is putting up much of a fight to save the joint. The town would likely have to compensate the existing or new owners if the building was declared a municipal resource -- the only real hope for preserving the building -- and that's not an easy sell in a community with a host of infrastructure demands on its agenda.
"Town council would have to ask residents if they want the hotel, or do they want a new day care, or a skating rink or a recreation centre," says Cathy Jones, a volunteer with the Canmore Museum, who organized a public information meeting on the issue two weeks ago. "It's frustrating, but we have to appreciate that and accept it."
Unless deemed to be a cultural treasure for all Albertans, saving old buildings in Alberta has to be a locally
driven initiative, says Lorne Roder, a preservation advisor for the province. In the case of the Canmore Hotel, a grassroots citizens' campaign would have to convince the town to pass a
bylaw declaring the site a municipal resource. Matching grants would then be available to restore the building from provincial and federal programs.
The owners must agree to the designation and might have to be compensated, but there are creative ways to achieve that, such as a land swap, Roder said. "It takes some political will."
The town could move unilaterally without the owners consent, he said, but it is rarely done.
"It makes sense for them to save that building," said Roder. "Much of the guidelines for historic main streets are based on the oldest building on the street, and the Canmore Hotel has set that standard. It's a two- or three-storey main street, after the hotel, not five or six, and many of its architectural features have been copied along the street. For that reason alone it's worth saving. But, economically, you can also do very well with historic properties. They attract people. They are good for business."
Nobody's saying the Canmore Hotel has to remain a smoky tavern. Frankly, the place needs a thorough scrubbing. The town could use a non-smoking restaurant-and-music venue like Calgary's Ironwood. Alternatively, "the Ho," as it is known locally, could be
redeveloped along the lines of Fernie's Raging Elk Hostel, with a lucrative downstairs tavern and upstairs accommodation ranging from dorms to semi-private and private rooms.
But to completely lose the town's defining structure, which has been used as a backdrop for movies and TV series, would be a tragedy.
What is the most vibrant section of downtown Calgary? It is isn't the cold, sterile glass-and-concrete jungle, but the old sandstone buildings along Stephen Avenue that weren't demolished in the redevelopment frenzy of the 1970s and 1980s. Canmore needs only to look to its neighbour for proof.
"If nothing else, this has been a wake-up call for the community," says Jones. "We have to look at these old buildings proactively rather than waiting until the 11th hour, but what a huge price to pay for that wake-up call."
rremington@theherald.canwest.com
© The Calgary Herald 2005