Historic Ogden Hotel news

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Historic Ogden Hotel news

Postby newsposter » Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:45 am

Calgary Sun story, Feb 25 2008

Victory Church takes over historic Ogden Hotel
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/200 ... 6-sun.html

Victory church was formerly in historic Westbourne church in the Stampede expansion zone. See elsewhere on this site for information on that building:
http://calgaryheritage.org/CHIForum/viewto ... ?t=254#254
Last edited by newsposter on Thu Jul 01, 2010 5:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby newsposter » Thu Jul 01, 2010 4:39 pm

Swerve article, May 21 2010 about the Ogden Hotel's pending designation...
http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/ne ... 44295450e6

And some news from July 1 2010:

The Ogden Hotel is expected to receive Municipal Heritage Designation at City Council on July 5, 2010 (also the Somerville Duplex in Cliff Bungalow and St. John the Evangelist Church in Inglewood, btw). Full information is on the Council agenda. Below is an excerpt. For more on the work of the Victory Foundation, which owns the hotel, and their renovation projects, go to the link: http://www.victoryfoundation.ca

SCHEDULE “B” – THE OGDEN HOTEL (ALYTH LODGE) STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Description

The Ogden Hotel (Alyth Lodge) historically known as the Ogden Hotel, is a three-storey, red-brick structure built in 1912. The Classical Revival-style structure is distinguished by its angled façade and front verandas. The former hotel building has been converted to low-cost apartments and retail space. The building is located in the south-east Calgary community of Ogden.

Heritage Value

Ogden Hotel (Alyth Lodge) is symbolically valuable for representing the transformative development that occurred in Ogden in 1912-13. It is the most substantial commercial structure erected in Ogden as a result of the boom which transpired when the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) established its primary repair facility for Western Canada at an adjacent site. The implications of the CPR’s 1911 decision were monumental for Calgary, and meant that the undeveloped Ogden area would become the site of the second-largest repair-shop facility in Canada, after Montreal, with a projected work force of 3,000. The CPR repair shops were to become Calgary’s single-largest employer. Many of these workers and their families were expected to make their home in the vicinity, leading to a real-estate boom in the community, and the development of the Ogden Hotel.

The substantial workforce and population base projected to transform Ogden enticed the Ranchman’s Trust Co., a subsidiary of the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, to build the hotel in 1912 as an outlet for their products. In fact, the original name conceived for the hotel was ‘Mokinstsis’, a Blackfoot place name for Calgary – and one of the company’s beers. With Ogden being more than 7 kilometers from the saloons of downtown Calgary, situating a hotel in Ogden was a lucrative business prospect for the brewing company. The sixty-four-bedroom hotel was planned to be the entertainment and social centre of the community. It featured the second-largest hotel dining room in the city, a basement bowling alley, billiards room, and a large bar room – its main attraction. The hotel was one of the main businesses in the community and is historically significant for its commercial activity as a hotel from 1913-1915, and after a wartime interruption and vacancy, from c. 1925-35. It survives as one of only eight pre-World War One hotel buildings to remain in Calgary.

While the CPR repair-shop facility was essentially built as planned, and a small commercial district was developed around the hotel, a world-wide depression in 1913 and the outbreak of war in 1914 halted much of the real-estate development that was projected for Ogden.

Ogden Hotel (Alyth Lodge) is architecturally important as an excellent example of the Classical Revival style. The building was designed by the eminent Calgary architectural firm of Lang and Major, who had just completed the city’s No. 1 Fire Hall (1911). The building is differentiated by an angled façade, clad in high-quality pressed brick, and spacious, columned verandas which flank its main entrance. Round- and segmental-arch door and window openings, detailed with keystones add to its character. Originally, classical cornices and elaborate balustrades atop the verandas contributed to a refined appearance.

The property also has significant institutional value for its role during World War 1 as the first military convalescent hospital to be established in Alberta. In October 1915 the use of the building was donated by the directors of the Calgary Brewing and Malting Co. to the Alberta Red Cross. From 1915 – 1919, hundreds of soldiers that were wounded in Europe recovered at the facility, then known as the Red Cross Convalescent Home.

The building was purchased by the provincial government in 1935 to serve as a hostel for the unemployed as part of the province’s relief programme. The building functioned in this capacity until 1968. Since 1970, when it acquired its ‘Alyth’ name, it has served as low cost housing.
The property has been a landmark in the community from the time of its completion, and remains a focal point in the community. This landmark status stems from its distinctive and substantial architecture, central location and its prominent uses over the years. The building marks the location of Ogden’s small, original business district. It is one of the few commercial buildings of the district to survive from the pre-World War 1 era.
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Postby newsposter » Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:16 am

Ogden Hotel now a home for recovering addicts
Church group transforms crack house

By Meghan Potkins, Calgary Herald February 22, 2012

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Ogden+Hote ... z1qFRW3qtN
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