'Rare little gem': Mid-century modern building demolished in Calgary's Beltline

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 11, 2025 2:23 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

A small, historical bureau gathering connected 12th Avenue S.W. called Lacey Court has been demolished, and it's leaving immoderate Calgarians feeling nostalgic for its presence.

Named aft proprietor John Lacey — an lipid and state consultant, arts philanthropist and for galore years honorary consul for the Kingdom of Thailand — Lacey Court was built successful 1956 and was archetypal occupied by J. Stevenson & Associates, the architects who designed it.

According to Heritage Calgary, Lacey Court was an international-style gathering with ample spans of glazing, slender alloy columns and timber beams, beardown horizontal lines with a intelligibly defined modular pattern, designed astir a courtyard. 

"The gathering forms portion of the borderline of a large civic parkland [Central Memorial Park] and is portion of a important grouping of buildings of successive stylistic eras," reads Heritage Calgary's website.

One local designer says he's particularly bittersweet to spot Lacey Court go, calling it "a uncommon small gem."

Ben Klumper, an designer and co-founder of Modern Office of Design + Architecture (MODA), says that erstwhile helium moved to Calgary successful the precocious 1990s, Lacey Court was 1 of the archetypal buildings helium noticed.

When MODA started a decennary ago, it was based successful an bureau successful the northwest, but Klumper says helium had his sights acceptable connected the small, modern Beltline jewel. 

Eventually, they became tenants and acceptable up store successful Lacey Court.

"When we had gotten successful there, it was a spot of a clip capsule that hadn't truly been touched astir apt since the 1970s. There was virtually shag carpet connected the level and wood panelling, worldly similar that. So we benignant of stripped it backmost down to its archetypal authorities … wherever we had our office," said Klumper.

"We were determination for six years oregon truthful and it was our home. It was a large small gathering and we loved it and benignant of became portion of our identity."

Their tenancy came to an extremity aft different radical bought the gathering with plans to alteration it into a daycare.

Nav Sidhu, managing manager of Sidhu Investment Group, bought Lacey Court for $2.5 cardinal a fewer years ago. He says his plans to crook the gathering into a daycare ran into a bid of roadblocks and unforeseen delays.

The purchasing radical gave MODA six months to leave, truthful Klumper and his steadfast moved a mates of blocks westbound and acceptable up store connected the main level of a caller condo building.

Looking back, Sidhu says they got a small up of themselves by giving announcement to Lacey Court's tenants truthful aboriginal on.

"Which benignant of was astir apt the biggest downfall astir the building," said Sidhu. "Just sitting vacant."

Residents, workers adjacent excited for a daycare

The archetypal plan, helium says, was to support the backmost fractional of the gathering and teardrop down the front. That program changed erstwhile a occurrence happened successful the vacant gathering successful 2023. Sidhu says it caused terrible harm to the structural components of Lacey Court, yet starring to its demolition earlier this month.

The blaze was blamed connected trespassers who lit a occurrence to enactment warm.

"When we looked astatine it with our structural engineers, our architects, our contractors … it wasn't harmless to effort and prevention it, I guess," helium said. 

"Asbestos, the h2o damage, and past the break-ins. There's a batch of harm to the interior of the gathering arsenic well."

Sidhu says the program to unfastened a 24-hour daycare successful a gathering that resembles the mid-century modern architecture of Lacey Court gathering remains the same. He hopes it volition beryllium invaluable for unit astatine the Sheldon M. Chumir infirmary crossed the street, and that operation is starting close away.

Sidhu anticipates the gathering volition beryllium acceptable to spell successful 10 months to a twelvemonth from now. He says parents surviving and moving successful the country are excited astir entree to kid attraction nearby. 

Yet Klumper called the demolition "a bittersweet commentary connected the information that, successful the sanction of progress, I deliberation determination are radical that would alternatively bulldoze thing and enactment up thing caller versus seeing the worth and keeping a spot of a historical gem."

What's more, helium believes gathering thing that looks the aforesaid doesn't mean it volition person the aforesaid feeling.

"The authenticity of that peculiar gathering and its modern style, if it's going to unrecorded on, it should unrecorded connected successful people's memories. I deliberation if it is replaced by something, it should beryllium thing wholly different, but hopefully of adjacent architectural quality," helium said.

"I don't deliberation trying to simulate past would beryllium the mode to spell there."