| Architect: Lang and Major and associate architects
Hodgson, Bates and Butler.
Contractor: Fyshe, Martin and Company of
Calgary
Original
cost: $34,021
Construction materials:
Concrete and masonry
exterior, brick cladding and Calgary sandstone trim
around the windows and arched bays.
Architectural style:
Classical styling. Two
stories and full basement, a central pediment, a side
tower with a 1300 pound brass bell and copper cupola.
Fifty foot masonry bell tower is focus of the building.
Original interior
details:
pressed tin ceiling, 5 brass slide poles, fir floor(2nd
storey) and trim.
Alterations:
1915 - heating system
converted from coal to gas. 1920 - west half of second
floor added. 1936 - two storey addition to rear. 1989 -
$1.1 million renovation by Budget Rent-A-Car.
Historical highlights:
- replaced Calgary's
first firehall, a wooden structure at 122 7th
Avenue S.E. built in 1887 as home to the
volunteer Calgary Fire Brigade.
- Mayor J.W. Mitchell
laid the cornerstone for the new "Fire
Headquarters" July 5, 1911 as part of the
ceremonies for the Western Firemen's Association
Conference hosted by Calgary.
- unique 45 degree
angular placement of the building on the lot
allowed easy access to 1st Street or 6th Avenue.
- the Department
moved into the new building during the first week
of October 1911.
- fire fighters were
volunteers until 1898 when James
"Cappy" Smart was hired as the chief
and first full-time paid employee of the
Department. Cappy was also the local undertaker.
- By 1911 the force
was full time and fully paid. In 1912 firemen
were paid $70.00 per month and lived 24 hours a
day at the hall.
- Chief Smart's
living quarters and office were on the second
floor. He had his own brass pole from the office
to the main floor but had a trap door built
around it so guests would not fall down the hole.
- shortly after the
hall opened, fireman Bud Fisher painted murals
(landscapes) on the walls of a small basement
room. (still intact)
- the western portion
of the second floor was not built as specified in
the original plans but was added in 1920 to
provide a gymnasium, kitchen and lounge.
- in 1945 the modern
motorized fire equipment would no longer fit
through the five arched bays which easily
accommodated the horse drawn vehicles and early
motorized equipment. The old swinging wooden
doors (large etched glass windows over the
original doors were removed and lost) were
replaced with modern overhead doors.
- during WWII the
brass bell, metal dome and stone ornamentation
from the top of the hose tower was removed and
replaced with an air raid siren.
- Central Fire
Station closed in 1973 ending 61 years of service
as a firehall.
- designated a
Provincial Historic Resource in 1975.
- In 1989 Budget
Rent-A-Car leased the building from the city and
spent $1.1 million renovating. The cupola was
reconstructed in 1991.
|
Central Fire Station 