| Architect: Hodgson and Bates of
Calgary.
Original
cost: $12,000 to
build plus $3,000 to furnish.
Original
owner:
William Roper Hull and
his wife Emmeline. William was born in England in 1856.
He and his brother started a stock raising business in
Kamloops, British Columbia and in 1883 drove 1,200 head
of horses over the Crow's Nest Pass to Calgary for sale
to the Mounted Police and stock raising companies. Hull
quickly became involved in the development of Calgary,
establishing a large meat business which he later sold to
Pat Burns. Hull built Calgary's first Opera House, the
Grain Exchange Building, the Alberta, Victoria and Albion
Blocks. The Hull's owned several ranches in the area
including the 6,000 acre Oxley Ranch at Willow Creek.
At the time of Hull's
death April 4, 1925, he was head of the firm W. R. Hull
Limited, Ranching, Financing and Insurance Agents. Mrs.
Hull was an enthusiastic member of the Colonel Macleod
Chapter of the I.O.D.E. and through her efforts the base
of the South African War Memorial in Central Park was
erected by the Chapter. When Mrs. Hull died March 11,
1953 the estate was valued at over $5 million. Much of it
was willed to charity including the funds to build the
William Roper Hull Home. (now Child and Family Services)
Construction materials:
Brick walls. Sandstone foundation and decorative trim
which included quoins, piers, lintels and voussoirs. Red
Spanish tile roof. Extensive use of bevelled, leaded and
stained glass windows. Wood panelling, beams, flooring
and trim throughout the house.
Architectural style:
Classical Revival
elements combined with English country house features.
Two full storeys, an attic and a basement. Built on a
square plan. A veranda stretching across the front and
much of the south side provided a second storey wrap
around balcony. An upper storey balcony spanned the back
of the house facing 5th Street.
Historical highlights:
- Langmore, named
after the Hull family home in England, was
situated on twenty-two city lots (1.7 acres) in
one of Calgary's exclusive districts.
- When Langmore was
completed in 1905 there were only three other
homes in the immediate vicinity; the Lougheed
house, the home of Peter McCarthy which became
the site of the Ranchman's Club and the Braden's
home.
- The estate was
beautifully landscaped and the Hull's became
known for elaborate garden parties such as the
one held for 400 guests in August of 1913.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hull have one of the most
beautiful terraced gardens in the city. The
afternoon was spent in tennis, croquet and lawn
bowling...Bagley's orchestra played very
pleasantly. Tea was served from a marquee erected
on the lawn."
- Following
Mrs. Hull's death the entire contents of Langmore
was sold at auction in April 1953. Auctioneer
Joe Reid, stood on his platform in the garage at
the bottom of the spacious gardens east of the
house and called for bids on oil and watercolour
paintings, crystal decanters, silverware, mounted
heads of mountain goats and deer, brass fenders
and fire irons, mahogany occasional chairs, a
handcarved mahogany Chinese cabinet overlaid with
ivory carvings, a surrey with fringe and hand
carved hall seat with inlaid mother-of-pearl.
- May 1954 the house
and property, reported to be worth $150,000, was
put up for sale by Royal Trust Company, executors
for the Hull estate.
- In 1955 Glenbow
Ranches bought Langmore and moved the Eric L.
Harvie collection of Canadiana into the house.
- By 1958 the Glenbow
Foundation had outgrown the Hull House. Author
Hugh Dempsey recalled that "the archaeology
program was run from the carriage house, the
mansion's basement was crammed full of paintings
and documents, and the billiard room on the third
floor was in danger of collapsing because of the
weight of the library books."
- Eventually the
Glenbow moved into larger quarters and the Hull
House reverted back to Riveredge ownership,
serving as administrative offices for Eric
Harvie's Ace and Riveredge Foundations.
- Langmore was sold
and demolished in 1970 to make way for Hull
Estates, a highrise condominium development.
- Hull's brick
two-carriage coach house was moved to Heritage
Park. It included stables for carriage and riding
horses, a hayloft, and living quarters for the
groomsman.
|
Hull House
(Langmore)