Few options remain for a beloved Ogden historical building that could be demolished as it stands in the way of the southeast leg of Calgary’s Green Line.

Area residents are hoping for a last-ditch effort to find someone with a spot in the community for the Ogden Block, a 113-year-old building that backs onto the CPKC rail line, just north of a planned Green Line LRT station.

Despite years of effort to either integrate the Ogden Block into the future plans for the area surrounding the planned station, or have it moved off-site to a location like Heritage Park, no solution for the building has materialized.

Bonny Warbeck has been spearheading the drive to preserve the Ogden Block since at least 2021, when the site was identified as the future location of a southeast Green Line LRT station. 

There was also a community rally back in 2023 to Save the Ogden Block, done with the help of then-Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra.

Warbeck said she thought there was a plan in place with the lot where the Ogden Block sits and the parcels to the south. The south parcels are to be used as a construction staging area, though Warbeck said that the Ogden Block site won’t actually be used.

Once that section of the Green Line was complete, it was expected that the two blocks would be sold together.

Warbeck said wires had been crossed when the plans for the lots went from the Green Line team to Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth’s office.

“Then, the election happened, and there was some big mix-up there, because some people were told that’s what the plan was going to be, that the building would be staying there. So, we were all elated. We were just so thankful that there was a plan,” Warbeck told LWC.

“Then there was information coming from other areas, saying, ‘What? This was never a plan. Nobody said that the building’s going to be saved, and it would be sold together with the lot to the south of there.’

“So, that was kind of a worrying time. There was a whole bunch of confusion.”

City was open to ideas for the Ogden Block

Warbeck said that with the Ogden Block’s future being handed off to so many different areas, information on the potential plans seemed to get lost after the election. She said it was then turned over to Infrastructure Services GM Michael Thompson.

“A lot of the momentum got lost. It kind of seemed that Michael was not familiar with what had happened, what had been happening for the previous four years, or whatever, in terms of the building and what decisions had been made,” she said.

“That’s the feeling I got.”

Current Ward 9 Coun. Harrison Clark told LWC that when he was elected in an area that housed some of Calgary’s oldest neighbourhoods, he swiftly got up to speed on the Ogden Block file.

He said there have been numerous conversations between the City of Calgary, Heritage Calgary, the area community association, and Infrastructure Services.

“It took a lot, but in a meaningful way, Infrastructure finally came to the conclusion that the best thing that we could do is, essentially… you want the building, take the building,” Clark said.

Then there was a discussion about how to move it. Clark said the City had the skill set and capacity to move it, and they’d already budgeted for the building’s demolition, so moving it would come from that budget.

“Unfortunately, we can’t find a place within the community,” Clark said.

The City of Calgary sent a brief emailed statement when asked specifically if they would be covering the cost of moving the building to a suitable location.  

“In advance of construction beginning in the area, discussions remain ongoing with Councillor Clark, in collaboration with the community, regarding the future of the Ogden Block,” the statement read.

“As progress evolves, we will provide an update.”

Despite a second request confirming the cost coverage, no further statement was provided. No cost was provided for the Ogden Block demolition.

Historic significance of the Ogden Block building

According to Calgary’s Inventory of Historic Resources, the Ogden Block has been tagged as a Community Historic Resource.  It was added to the City’s inventory in 2021, the same year that it was purchased by the City of Calgary for demolition purposes.  

It does not have federal, provincial, or municipal protection, and it is not municipally designated as a historic resource, according to the inventory.

“The Ogden Block is a two-storey, free-standing rectangular-plan building located on the east side of Ogden RD, just south of the historic Alyth Lodge building, in the neighbourhood of Ogden in Calgary’s southeast,” reads the historic description.

“The historic brick building features a stepped parapet, symmetrical fenestration, and two doorways at a parged first storey. The building has a close setback from the road and is situated on a grassed and treed lot with an alley and the CPR line located at the rear of the property.”

According to the site’s history, it operated as the Hong Lee Laundry from 1913 to 1916, and then later as an annex to the Red Cross Military Convalescent Hospital, which was in the nearby Ogden Hotel (Alyth Lodge).

The heritage website said it has value due to the Hong Lee Laundry, its rarity as an early Edwardian commercial building in a historic industrial neighbourhood, and as a First World War main street development that happened along with the construction of a streetcar line and the adjacent Canadian Pacific Railway Ogden Shops.

Warbeck said that it wouldn’t be right if the building ended up somewhere else in Calgary. It’s an important piece of Ogden’s history. She feared if it moved to another community, the building’s story would be lost.

“I think to us, the most important thing would be, is if it could stay where it is and be utilized, still, obviously be a heritage building on a street where there are other heritage buildings that would be kind of that’s what the building deserves, is what I feel,” she said.

“That’s what’s best for the community and for the future of this community, when we’re trying to honour the heritage. If it goes somewhere else, all of that is lost.”

Coun. Clark said the building helps tell the story of a community.

“It is a story about Canada, about CP rail and its landing here in Calgary, and the economy and the community that came with that work,” he said.  

“I think those are probably the two strongest points about why this building might be saved. It’s something that, when gone, will never come back.”

No decision has yet been made on the building’s future.