Calgary Historical Sites
Historic City Hall
Historic City Hall took four years to build, from 1907 to 1911. Architect William M. Dodd designed it in the Romanesque Revival style, with a clock tower about 100 feet tall over the main entrance. Today it stands in front of the mirrored-glass Municipal Building, which was added in 1985.
- Built
- 1907–1911
- Community
- Downtown Commercial Core
- Address
- 800 Macleod Trail SE
- Designation
- National Historic Site (1984); provincial and municipal historic resource
Why Sandstone?
Calgary's great fire of 1886 burned about 18 buildings in a single day. Builders switched to local Paskapoo sandstone, and by the 1890s the town was being called the Sandstone City. For City Hall, the stone came largely from local quarries, including one in a gully on 17 Avenue SW in Bankview and another at Glenbow, west of the city.
Protected at Three Levels
Parks Canada named it a National Historic Site in 1984, and it's also protected by the province and the City. Between 2016 and 2020, the City spent $34.1 million restoring it: the sandstone was repaired, the roof replaced, and the clock tower given steel bracing because it had started to lean away from the building. It reopened on September 15, 2020.
Worth Noticing
- The four red granite columns at the main arch, and the word "Onward," Calgary's motto, in the crest
- The red tile roof; about 400 of the tiles date from 1911
- The forecourt on Macleod Trail, laid out to match the original 1911 landscaping
Getting There and Nearby
I'd take the CTrain: City Hall/Bow Valley College station (Red and Blue lines) is at the door. The building is on the east side of the Downtown Commercial Core, close to Downtown East Village, Chinatown and the Beltline.
Historic City Hall in pictures
Photographed on the ground by Kelly Baker.
Communities around Historic City Hall
The residential communities closest to it.