| Architect: James R. Bowes of Ottawa
Contractor:
Edward Hunt
Original
owner:
Senator James Alexander
Lougheed and his wife Isabelle Hardisty. James and
Isabelle, the grandparents of former Premier Peter
Lougheed played a key role in the history of Calgary and
Alberta. James was one of Calgary's early lawyers in
partnership with R.B.Bennett, land agent for the CPR and
the Hudson's Bay Company, real estate developer, director
of the Canada Life Assurance, founding member of the
Ranchmen's Club and the Law Society of Alberta. Lougheed
was a senator for 36 years and a federal cabinet
minister. He was knighted by King George V in 1917, the
only Albertan to ever receive that honour
Construction materials:
locally quarried (Butlin
quarry), rough-cut sandstone
Architectural style:
predominantly Queen Anne
Revival with some Romanesque Revival features such as the
round headed, arched windows. House built on an
asymmetrical plan with a large octagonal turret, steeply
pitched roofs with shed dormers.
Original interior
details:
Spanish mahogany,
Italian marble, stained glass windows, doors and transoms
featuring hand-painted images of Alberta's flora and
fauna (from McCausland of Toronto) Electric lighting
throughout. Two chandeliers in the drawing room (from
Mitchell and Co. Montreal). Electric bells
"communicating with every apartment." Hot and
cold running water. Ornate plaster ceiling (carved
cherubs) in the drawing room. Many of these features are
still intact. Currently has 48 rooms and 9 fireplaces.
Historical highlights:
- house became known
as Beaulieu, supposedly a reference to
Lady Lougheed's lineage.
- when the Lougheeds
moved into the two and one-half storey house in
December 1891 it was outside the town boundaries
and beyond the area of settlement.
- the Lougheeds
subsequently expanded and renovated the house to
accommodate a growing family (6 children) and
their social role of entertaining distinguished
visitors like the Prince of Wales (1919) and the
Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Princess
Patricia (1912).
- Beaulieu hosted
discussions to create the province of Alberta and
was the meeting place for early Calgary groups;
the IODE, Women's Hospital Aid Society, Calgary
Children's Aid Society, Calgary Horticultural
Society.
- The renovations
included a basement billiard room, expanded
dining room with domed skylight, morning room,
pantry, kitchen, additional bedrooms on the
second and third floors and a study panelled with
carved oak for the Senator.
- a formal sunken
garden was developed in the gully east of the
house, creating a fairy-tale setting for garden
parties. A swan sculptured fountain was the focal
point of the terraced garden. Each of the two
terraced levels was surrounded by balustrades, a
feature that was repeated on the porches and
balconies of the house.
- by 1914 the
Lougheed property included the enlarged house
surrounded by lawn, trees and flower beds,
sandstone coach house, stables, formal sunken
garden, prairie pasture and fenced backyard with
vegetable and kitchen gardens. A low sandstone
wall with two wrought iron entry gates for east
and west driveways bordered the 13th Avenue side.
- James's died in
1925 but Lady Lougheed continued to live in
Beaulieu until her death in 1936. The city of
Calgary assumed title to Beaulieu in 1934.
- furnishings were
auctioned in 1938.
- from 1939 to the
late 1970s the house was occupied by various
tenants including the Dominion Provincial Youth
Training Centre, the Canadian Women's Auxiliary
Army Corps.
- in 1948 the
Canadian Red Cross Society bought the house for
use as headquarters and a blood donor clinic. The
Society subsequently built a functional but
incompatible addition to the east end of the
house.
- in 1979 Beaulieu
was purchased by the Alberta government.
- February 18, 1992,
ten Albertans were named by Order in Council to
the Lougheed Residence Advisory Board "to
recommend to the government an appropriate
development and operational strategy for this
most important building."
- In 1993 the city of
Calgary purchased the former site of the garden
and adjoining pasture for civic park purposes.
Rehabilitation of this green space for public
park use will begin summer 1997.
- the Lougheed House
Conservation Society (a volunteer group formed in
1995) backed by the city and the province,
recently embarked on a $4 million-plus project,
scheduled for completion in 2005, to restore and
refurbish the three storey mansion, re-build an
attached coach house and recreate the terraced
garden. Anyone wishing to contribute to the
rehabilitation project contact Trudy Cowan at
244-6333.
- In 1977 Beaulieu
was designated as a Provincial Historic Resource
and in 1995 declared a National Historic Site.
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Lougheed House