| Architect: Ernest T. Brown, resident
architect for the Dominion Government 1941 - 1945,
designed the 1943 building. Rule, Wynn and Rule of
Calgary designed the 1956 addition.
Contractor:
P.W.Graham and Son of
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (1943). Poole Construction
Company Ltd. of Calgary (1956 addition).
Original
cost:
$600,000 including site
and equipment (1943). $3.5 million (1956 addition).
Construction materials: Stone and tapestry brick.
Architectural style:
The four storey 1943
hospital was designed in an H form with two four storey
wings connected by a central building.
Original interior
details:
The centre block of the
1943 structure housed offices, dining rooms, private and
semi private wards. The wings housed large wards
accommodating 16 to 24 beds with a total capacity of 250
beds. At the end of each ward was a day lounge or sun
room. The 1956 addition consisted of 225 beds in 2 and 4
bed wards, an expanded out patient clinic, dental clinic,
dietary facilities, arts and crafts department, laundry,
new library and a recreation room.
Historical highlights:
- The first Colonel
Belcher Hospital opened June 7, 1919 for the
veterans of World War I in the renovated
Fairbanks Morse Warehouse located at 523 8th
Avenue S.W. (currently known as Penny Lane). In
1926 the hospital moved into another warehouse
located a few doors east where it continued
operating until it closed in June 1945.
- The name originally
chosen for the hospital was the Alberta Military
Hospital. Prior to occupancy the name was changed
to the Colonel Belcher, in memory of Lieutenant
Colonel Robert Belcher, a cavalry officer and
charter member of the Northwest Mounted Police.
During World War I, at the age of 66 Belcher was
appointed Organizer of Recruiting for Military
District No. 13 which included Calgary. Belcher
died in Calgary on February 10, 1919.
- In 1939 when the
war broke out the Department of Pensions and
National Health was asked to increase hospital
and related services across Canada.
- On July 30, 1941,
the federal Department purchased the 4th Street
mansion and property formerly owned by Senator
Patrick Burns. Construction of a new Colonel
Belcher military hospital began in the spring of
1942. The Burns mansion was put into immediate
use as a convalescent hospital for members of the
armed forces released from military hospitals.
- Fifteen Calgary
women were hired " as an experiment by the
contractor, at the request of W. Harry Ross,
local supervisor of the Unemployment Insurance
Commission." The Herald of September
17, 1942 reported, " the contractors are so
pleased with the willingness displayed by the
women an additional number will probably be
employed within the next few days."
- On August 7, 1942
the Honourable Ian Mackenzie, Minister of
Pensions and National Health, laid the
cornerstone of the new Belcher "in the name
of humanity and the men of the armed
services."
- Mackenzie
officially opened the 250 bed facility December
9, 1943 with the words " may this fine
hospital be a lasting memory to those whose
courage, sacrifice and devotion enable us to
remain in freedom. Here may we be privileged to
give a helping hand, a kindly word and guiding
inspiration to those young heroes who shall, in
the inevitable destiny of battle, have to sojourn
here awhile."
- Almost as soon as
the hospital opened, the federal government
issued orders to double the 8,000 bed capacity at
military hospitals across the country. As a
result the property adjacent to the Belcher at
536 13th Avenue S.W. was purchased from W.S.
Henderson. By May 1944 work had started on the
construction of two additions; a garage and
clinic office costing $19,000 and the three
storey $50,000 Harold McDonald Memorial Wing
(named for Brigadier H.F.McDonald, Chairman of
the Canadian Pension Commission, who died at his
Banff home in September 1943).
- By the end of the
war the patient population peaked at 376.
- In July 1946, a
solarium equipped by the Calgary Gyro Club opened
on the hospital roof.
- In September 1947
the Calgary Military Hospital was amalgamated
with the Colonel Belcher. Fifty beds were set
aside to accommodate navy, army or air force
personnel in the Calgary area who required
hospitalization.
- The land west of
the Belcher was acquired in February 1952 for the
construction of a four storey addition designed
to boost bed capacity to 400 and absorb the
Veteran's Convalescent Hospital at 16th Avenue
and 10th Street N.W.
- Extensive
renovations to update facilities and the
construction of the new wing were completed by
the official opening on November 30, 1956.
- The Burns mansion
was demolished in 1956 to accommodate a new
entrance. The social services, welfare affairs,
hospital manager's office and canteen facilities
in the former mansion were transferred to the new
wing.
- In the 1970s $7.5
million was spent on renovating and modernizing
the original facility. Old wards were replaced
with two - bed rooms. The intensive care unit,
kitchens, laboratory, radiology and respiratory
care unit were updated.
- In 1979 ownership
of the Belcher was transferred from the federal
government to the province.
- In 1991, the
Colonel Belcher was designated a long-term care
facility exclusively for Canada's World War I,
World War II, and Korean war veterans.
- Since 1995 the 135
bed Belcher has been operated by the Calgary
Regional Health Authority.
- In 1997 the
Veterans' Health Task Force, composed of members
of veterans' organizations, Colonel Belcher
residents and families, health authorities and
health care providers, recommended that the
existing hospital be replaced with a new
built-for-purpose facility.
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