200 8 Avenue S.W., Downtown Commercial Core
The Hudson’s Bay Company Department Store (1913), built 1911-13, and significantly expanded in 1929 and 1956-57, is a monumental, six-storey, commercial-style building, clad in ornamented, cream-coloured terra cotta. The store is noted for its elegant arcade which wraps around the east and south facades. With its landmark presence, it is a prominent contributor to the concentration of late-19th- and early-20th-century commercial structures that compose the Stephen Avenue National Historic District.
The store’s design was the first of its kind in Calgary – constructed on a monumental scale, incorporating steel and reinforced concrete construction technology that was sheathed in terra-cotta cladding, and banks of elevators allowing it to rise six stories. Reminiscent of the arcades lining the famous Rue de Rivoli in Paris, it is the only known example of its type in North America.
The prototype for the company’s expansion programme of new stores, it was repeated in Vancouver (1913-16), Victoria (1913-21), and Winnipeg (1926). With the decline of its traditional role as fur trader, the Hudson’s Bay Company greatly expanded its retail operations in Western Canada by introducing this new class of modern department store based on the Calgary example.
Since opening, the store has been a primary hub of retail and social activity in the city. Historically, the store offered 40 departments, including large grocery division, a regional shipping department and myriad of on-site amenities and services. These amenities including public telephones, a telegraph and cable office, post office, bank, travel desk, beauty parlours, circulating library, reading/writing rooms, auditorium, and men’s smoking lounge. The sixth-floor, 275-seat dining room, was fitted with high-quality Elizabethan-style furnishings and finishes, making it one of the most attractive restaurants in the city. Such amenities made the store not only a retail establishment but also an important meeting place and social destination.
Article and images provided courtesy of City of Calgary’s Inventory of Historic Resources
