Herald column notes Calgary brewery in "purgatory"

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Herald column notes Calgary brewery in "purgatory"

Postby newsposter » Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:10 pm

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/More+ ... story.html

(Also note our June 8 brewery event http://www.calgaryheritage.org/CHIForum/vi ... =2122#2122)

More God's armpit spaces needed
By Irena Karshenbaum,
For The Calgary Herald June 6, 2010

My late father had a favourite expression, "Kak oo boga za pazuhoi," which translates roughly from Russian as "Like in God's armpit." He meant a sanctuary, a place of beauty and comfort.

Lately, Calgary has been adding to God's armpit inventory. The best such places are: Lougheed House, Reader's Rock Garden, Fashion Central and the recently restored Central Memorial Park. Other projects currently under construction that merit this moniker are: the restoration of the old Calgary Courts site, Connaught School, Dr. Carl Safran School, Western Canada High School, the Calgary Public Building, the development of the East Village and the Elbow River Historic Promenade. These projects will contribute considerably towards making Calgary more attractive and livable.

The antithesis of a God's armpit are: Heritage Meadows (the heritage and meadow value equalling zero), the Chinook Mall expansion and Cross Iron Mills. These misguided projects will contribute toward an alienated future for our children. By spending our hard-earned dollars in these places, we are investing in the future development of similar monstrosities.

To create a God's armpit, a place must be built to human scale. In the past 100 years the places where we live, work, shop and play have expanded to ungraspable proportions.

Compare a neighbourhood like Roxboro, built in 1923, which is just one square kilo-metre and can easily be covered on foot, to McKenzie Towne, built in 1995 and still under construction, which is 4.3 square kilometres and expanding. The "tone" in McKenzie is a fallacy. It's only accessible by car and once there it has such a massive footprint its residents are completely car dependent. Even its places of worship, St. Albert the Great and McKenzie Towne Church, are supersized.

Interestingly, the average community footprint has been steadily increasing. In the 1950s the average size was 1.57 square kilometres; in the 1960s and '70s it was 2.2; in the 1980s and '90s it was 2.77; in 2000s it was 3.17 and currently the average footprint has morphed to 4.17 square kilometres.

Compare early places of commerce like Stephen Avenue Walk, which can easily be covered on foot, to Heritage Meadows, which requires one to drive from parking lot to parking lot to visit the different stores.

We have lost the human scale concept downtown. Take the city's first skyscraper, the Barron Building, the most important example of Art Deco architecture; it's physically welcoming, whereas many of the other skyscrapers are not. Our living spaces need to shrink considerably so people can again know the comfort of small.

There are two other important sites that need to be added to God's armpit inventory. The Barron Building, at 610 8th Ave. S.W., which stands empty and sadly has a boarded-up storefront, and the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, which is unfortunately languishing in purgatory.

The Calgary Brewery is currently facing the most danger as its owner, a numbered company, applied for a demolition permit on May 15, 2009. Last summer, the issue attracted considerable media attention and concerned citizens rallied for the protection of this historic landmark. The Alberta government, realizing the importance of the site, did something it rarely does. It issued a Historic Resources Impact Assessment on June 8, 2009. The assessment requires the owner to complete an evaluation of the site's historic and architectural significance.

Unfortunately, virtually nothing has been heard from the owner since. Eileen Stan, a consultant working for the owner, has been quite secretive about where the owner/ developer is at. "We have had discussions with the Alberta government and an architectural consultant. But it's a fairly complex site and the assessment will require a lot of work."

Bob van Wegen, vice-president of Calgary Heritage Initiative, noted, "It's been a year since the order and meanwhile the buildings continue to deteriorate."

To put the assessment challenge in perspective, the $1.4-billion Encana tower has been built from the ground to its current level, just surpassing the Calgary Tower in that time. Are the requirements of Historic Resources Impact Assessment more daunting than building the tallest tower in Western Canada? Restoring the Calgary Brewery can have a dual benefit. It can be an amazing legacy project for the owner, who is hiding behind a numbered company, while making a gift to the citizens of Calgary of another space in God's armpit inventory.

Karshenbaum is founding president of The Little Synagogue on the Prairie Project Society.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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Postby newsposter » Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:51 pm

Letter to the Editor in response to the above column ^

History lost

By Gerry Di Napoli, Calgary Herald June 14, 2010 Re: "More God's armpit spaces needed," Irena Karshenbaum, Opinion, June 6.

Armpit-looking, yes. Take mature buildings and do little or no maintenance. Expose them to the elements, then fling the doors open to the media. Wow, it's run down beyond repair! Owners and/or representatives invited to participate in community forum, and maybe give some idea on their plans for redevelopment. No shows, no thanks. Even Molson had the goodwill to create a commemorative newspaper celebrating the history of the site upon closure, and sent it to all area residents. And they used it as a viable commercial site, including a limited run of "Calgary" on its 100th anniversary.

We don't always have to relive history, but should have respect for it. If a national corporation can recognize the importance of the site, you would think local ownership might too. But so far it's looking to be another potential great loss for the history of Calgary.

Gerry Di Napoli,
Calgary

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Histo ... z0qsHbXXNV

Here is a link back to the main brewery page:
http://www.calgaryheritage.org/CHIForum/vi ... =2132#2132
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