It could have been built in 1914, but the City of Calgary says the Ogden Block is of no historical significance.
The block of flats at 7044 Ogden Road SE and several other nearby buildings were purchased by the city earlier this year and are being demolished to make way for the Ogden LRT station, which is part of the Green Line project.
Juliet Pitts, senior manager of community and business relations for the Green Line team, said the provincial government will conduct an impact assessment on the historic resources before the building is demolished.
Part of this process is taking photos inside and outside the building.
The assessment will be forwarded to the provincial heritage resources administrative department and the information will eventually land in the provincial archives.
Pitts said the Ogden Block is one of four buildings on the street that are being demolished because of the Green Line.
Although the structures have been around for decades, there don’t appear to be any significant heritage elements, she said.
“They don’t have any municipal or provincial names or protections associated with them,” Pitts said.
The Ogden Block is also not listed on the city’s historical resource inventory.
Built in 1914 by Eng Hon Quan and Eng Shon Yun
According to the Millican-Ogden Congregation Revitalization Plan, the Ogden Block was built in 1914 by Eng Hon Quan and Eng Shon Yun.
They ran the Hong Lee laundry on the first floor and ran an 18-room guesthouse upstairs until the 1920s.
The Lee Association of Calgary states that the laundry was used to wash clothes for railroad workers in the Canadian Pacific Railway marshalling yard. The red brick of the building was later plastered and the building was converted into apartments, according to the centenary yearbook of the volunteer organization.
The laundry industry played an important role for Chinese immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with some researchers arguing that after railroad work, laundries could find a niche with another difficult form of handicraft as discrimination left few other options.
The city says the centuries-old former Chinese laundry in Ogden is of no historical significance. (Scott Dippel / CBC)
The revitalization plan indicated that the block of flats could potentially be a heritage worth restoring, but that it would need to be assessed.
Instead, the building is expected to be demolished in late summer.
Pitts said the city council and Heritage Calgary are advising the city on when work is due to begin.
Until then, the 107-year-old building will be empty.
Comments are closed.