Old Fire Station No. 5 - RIP

[newsposter]

Updated November 2012. See bottom of second page of thread.

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First posting, February 2008:

The City wants to rebuild/replace Fire Station No. 5 on 14th Street SW in South Calgary. Built in 1952 in a modern style, the building has architectural value. The garage is apparently too small for modern fire equipment. Let's hope the original building is preserved alongside whatever new garage is constructed.


Photos here: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM25AM

From the Fire Department website:

Fire Station No. 5, 3129 14 St. S.W.

Located in a picturesque residential area of the inner city, crew members of Station No. 5 have adopted the park that surrounds the fire hall and are responsible for its upkeep. The crews have received awards over the years for their generous effort.

The station is located next door to a library and is often visited by children and their parents walking to and from the library. Residents affectionately refer to it as the "Little Firehall," and it is a treasured part of the community.

Two of the oldest antique rigs in the city sit in the garden area in front of Station No. 5. The two steel-wheeled hose reels were used to carry hoses to fire calls in Calgary's earlier days.

Built in 1952, this is the oldest fire hall still in service in The City of Calgary. The original Station No. 5 was built in 1909 at 1139 17th Ave. S.W. on the site of what is now an apartment building. In the early days of the Depression (1932), the station was relocated to a house at 1629 Scotland St. S.W. until it was moved to its current home.

The building was originally shared with The City's Parks and Recreation Department until they outgrew it and moved to a new location...

Link:
http://content.calgary.ca/CCA/City+Hall ... tion+5.htm

[newsposter]

It appears that the old No. 5 fire hall (see above) will be demolished to make way for a new fire hall. The site is apparently too small to comfortably incorporate preservation of the old hall in the new hall, and there are no alternate sites for the needed facility. This is very unfortunate from a heritage p.o.v.; let's at least hope the old hall is properly commemorated. Another hall of this vintage is in Inglewood, and has been converted into a house.

[newsposter]

News article, Metro January 22

Neighbours worry fire hall expansion may swallow park space

http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/a ... r-for-park

[newsposter]

A message from the South Calgary Community Association

COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE

Fire Station #5 on 14th street is the oldest active fire hall in the city…it has been in operation since 1952 and although it might be the cutest little hall in the land it is out dated, and ill equipped due to its lack in size.

The Calgary Fire Department has informed us that they are going to expand the fire station assuming the land that is presently owned by the City (land use designated as S-CS special purpose) directly north of where it is situated now.

The SCCA is hosting an OPEN HOUSE on February 9th 7:00pm in the Upper Hall, 3130 16th Street SW. The purpose of this open house is intended for all those that have questions, concerns or for those that would like to offer input.

This is the time and place to go and to have your voice heard.
A handful of firemen, City of Calgary Department delegates, and the SCCA executive board along with Ward 8 Alderman John Mar will be there to listen and answer questions you may have.

This will be a good time to see the Outline Plan, to offer your thoughts on how the new hall should look, or to propose ideas for park to commemorate the near 60 years the present hall has served.

This is also an opportunity for you to find out the zone that our ‘lil fire hall covers and who will benefit from this expansion. Or perhaps you are concerned about the green space that this expansion will encompass, if so, we encourage you to attend this open house to see the measures they
are taking to minimize their impact or footprint and do the least damage to our parks and loss of park space.

You also may be curious as to why this expansion is even necessary or how long it is going to take.

Evan Polowick - President, S.C.C.A.

Proudly Serving South Calgary -Garrison Woods - Altadore - River Park - Sandy Beach
president@southcalgarycommunity.ca www.southcalgarycommunity.ca

[newsposter]

Here is the Fire Department's flyer regarding Fire Station No. 5 replacement (as posted on the Mt. Royal CA website).
http://mountroyalstation.ca/Current_eve ... eb01/5.pdf

A number of neighbours have expressed concern about the loss of the historic building, among other concerns.



According to the flyer:

Once a new station is erected, the old
one will be torn down to reduce the
overall footprint of the development. The
previous site will be used for fire hall
landscaped and parking areas. Because
the existing station is the Calgary Fire
Department’s oldest active station, some
elements of the existing hall will be
incorporated into the new development.

[newsposter]

As the City ponders demolition of No. 5, it is celebrated in the City's staff newsletter, Link - March 2010. Ironic?

[newsposter]

There is a heritage tour of Marda Loop that starts near the endangered fire station on Saturday May 1 at 1 pm with Historian Harry Sanders and MLA Dave Taylor. Start at the Alexander Calhoun Library on 14th St SW.

http://janeswalk.net/walks/view/south_c ... tive_walk/

South Calgary, better known as part of the Marda Loop district, was annexed in 1910 and developed as one of Calgary’s early suburbs. It remains a vibrant community a century later. Its history is imbued in its historic businesses, churches, dwellings, and schools, whether they remain standing or exist only in memory. Chief among those memories is the South Calgary streetcar loop that once linked the neighbourhood to the city core and beyond. The Marda Loop business district, also part of the tour, recalls that streetcar history as well as the late, lamented Marda Theatre.

Dave Taylor is the MLA for Calgary Currie Constituency. He has organized a number of different walking tours in the constituency.
Harry Sanders is a historical consultant and freelance writer who specializes in Calgary history. Many Calgarians know him as “Harry the Historian” from his program on CBC Radio One.

Photo of the event:

[newsposter]

There is a meeting to discuss the future of Fire Station No. 5 next Tuesday May 11 at 7PM at the South Calgary Community Hall.
(RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 1)

For more information and alternatives proposed by residents visit:

http://southcalgarypark.blogspot.com/

Email: savesouthcalgarypark@gmail.com

For a poster, click on this link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/calgary_h ... /item/list

[newsposter]

^ bump

[pasa]

hello everyone!
Please note that today's meeting has been postponed til June 1. should you care enough to contact the office of ward 8 alderman at ward08@calgary.ca, you could receive more information.

Also, as a resident living near the fire station, I just want to say that for one I am glad that we do have a fire station nearby our growing neighbourhood. Furthermore, the firemen of station 5 deserve more suitable and adequate facilities to respond to our needs.

The building might be "lovely", it is not suitable anymore. It is too small to accommodate the engine needed in the area, it's too small to fit the needs of the men and women working for us.

Some of us may want to keep the old building but to be honest, I do not believe this particular building is "heritage" material - there are other buildings around Calgary that deserve to be preserved; fire station #5 building is not one of them.

What is more important for the people in the neighbourhood is to have facilities that suit our fire department, have traffic regulations in place and enforced to ensure that the engines can come in and out of their current / new location safely and easily, and it would be more beneficial to the residents on 14th street to "beautify" the boulevard (and display the antique engines of fire station 5 properly) so the community could be proud.

Spending tax payer money to preserve a building that shows very few features worth preserving is not public money well spent.

[newsposter]

Postponement confirmed. Thanks for the heads up and the posting, "pasa". Thanks for the email too, "sw resident".

[newsposter]

PUBLIC CONSULTATION #2: JUNE 1, 2010 – SOUTH CALGARY COMMUNITY HALL – 3130 16 ST SW – 7:00 PM
The next meeting to discuss the future of Fire Station No. 5 will occur on June 1, 2010 at 7:00 PM in the Lower Hall of the South Calgary Community Association building (3130 16 ST SW).

[newsposter]

There is an open house regarding the No. 5 Firehall, and what is proposed to replace it (public art, apparently), on November 1, 5 pm, in the lower hall at South Calgary CA. This is on the community website:

South Calgary Emergency Response Services: Public Art Project Questionnaire. A public art piece will be installed near the South Calgary Community Emergency Response Services building. To help the artist, please fill out this questionnaire. Please send your responsed by November 15, 2010. Click here to download the questionnaire:
http://www.southcalgarycommunity.ca/pdf ... nnaire.pdf

An open house will be held at the SCCA hall
on November 1, 2010 from 5:00pm-7:00pm.

http://www.southcalgarycommunity.ca/

[cjane]

The open house held on November 1 provided an overview the reivsed proposal for the site. Unfortunately the proposal does not include preservation of the existing Fire Station #5, a physicial icon and an inspiration to the South Calgary Community.

The proposed design for the new Fire Station does attempt to honour the form of the existing building. Plans include reuse of the bricks from the old building in the new one, and additional landscaping and trees. The footprint of and parking lot for the new Firehall has been minimized in order to preserve additional parkland.

Canadian artist Jill Anholt () and local landscape architect Michelle Wong have been commissioned to create a permanent public art installion for the new Fire Station. Anholt is currently surveying Calgary residents for feedback on the South Calgary community and the role that Emergency Services and the Fire Station play in that community.

[newsposter]

Fire Station No. 5 to be replaced by modern facility
Some want to save red brick building
By Richard Cuthbertson May 30, 2011

CALGARY — It is the oldest working firehall in the city, with one heritage consultant calling it a “stylistic rarity” in Calgary. But soon Station No. 5 will be little more than a memory.

Even though it was recently placed on the city’s inventory of evaluated historic resources, the brick building in South Calgary that dates from 1952 is slated to be torn down once a new, modern station is constructed.

Read more, including comments by Calgary Heritage Authority chair Scott Jolliffe: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Fire+Stati ... z1NqiQ7KVS