Three buildings downtown keep taking new jobs. Each one plays a role, plays it well, then comes back in a different costume.
Start with the Palace Theatre. The Allen family built it in 1921, with architect C. Howard Crane drawing the plans, and it opened as a movie palace. A year later it hosted Calgary’s first public radio exhibition, and from 1925 William Aberhart took to its stage for his broadcasts. It stayed the city’s premier venue until the Jubilee Auditorium opened in 1956, and in 1996 it became a National Historic Site of Canada. Not bad for a building that began by showing films.
The GRAND opened on February 5, 1912, as the Sherman GRAND, and at the time it was the largest theatre in Canada. It came back as a movie house on September 3, 1937, then reopened in 2006 as the Theatre Junction GRAND. Same walls, very different decades. Read the GRAND’s own account of its history.
Then the King Eddy. The King Edward Hotel went up between 1905 and 1907 on 9 Avenue SE, on a strip once nicknamed Whiskey Row. It later became Calgary’s Home of the Blues, then closed in 2004. The National Music Centre built the old hotel into the Studio Bell story, the brick was rebuilt, and in July 2018 the King Eddy reopened as a restaurant, bar and venue. CKUA Calgary and the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio live there now. Plan a visit through kingeddy.ca.
Nobody roped these places off like museum pieces. People kept finding new work for them. A theatre became a radio stage and a hotel became a music hall. A city keeps its memory alive by using it.
Next time you’re downtown, make a loop of it. Palace, GRAND, King Eddy. Buy a ticket to something at one of them.
For a different angle, read Calgary Buildings Never Forget Their Old Names. Three women, a kitchen table and a $15 million dare is good too. Or try The Women Who Kept Lougheed House Alive After 1938 for a change of pace.
Related reading from us: Calgary Was Almost Called Fort Brisebois and The Calgary Tower Went Up in One Mighty Pour.
Quick answers
The Allen family built the Palace Theatre in 1921, with architect C. Howard Crane drawing the plans, and it opened as a movie palace. A year later it hosted Calgary’s first public radio exhibition, and in 1996 it became a National Historic Site of Canada.
The GRAND opened on February 5, 1912, as the Sherman GRAND, and at the time it was the largest theatre in Canada. It came back as a movie house on September 3, 1937, then reopened in 2006 as the Theatre Junction GRAND.
The King Eddy reopened in 2018 as a restaurant, bar and venue. CKUA Calgary and the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio live there now, and you can plan a visit through kingeddy.ca. Buy a ticket to something at one of the three buildings.
