Calgarians Lobby to Save Historic Building from Demolition for Green Line LRT

A group of Calgarians are making the efforts to save an historic building as part of the Green Line LRT expansion in southeast Calgary.

The 110-year-old Ogden block at 7044 Ogden road S.E., is a laundromat and apartment building constructed in 1914, by two Chinese men Eng Hon Quan and Eng Shon Yun, who ran a commercial laundry business. Although, the building sits vacant, there is hope to find a tenant to give the city-owned building a new life, reports Global News.

According to Global News, the residents with the Millican Ogden Heritage Group rallied outside the building on Tuesday to try and raise awareness of its impending demolition. “We want this building to be the cornerstone of community revitalization in Ogden,” Millican Ogden Heritage Group Chair Bonny Warveck told Global News.

The city plans to demolish the building, with other nearby ones to make way for the Green Line. The demolition was previously halted due to the public uproar, with calls for studies into the building’s past.

Ogden block was also used as a boarding house, a polling station in the vote on prohibition, and additional space for the Ogden Military Convalescent Hospital for injured soldiers returning home from the World War I.

Several assessments of the Ogden block found it to be historically significant and structurally sound and as such was added to the Calgary’s Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources. However, reports says the building does not have the legal protections of being designated a Municipal Historic Resource.

Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo said he was in support of the group and he has a proposal which he hopes will see the building spared from demolition. He proposes taking the building from the Green Line developers, and asking non-profits to manage it until a plan can be made.

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