A new future finally nears for St. Louis Hotel

It is the most storied watering hole of 20^th century Calgary, a place where politicians and oil executives mingled with regular working folk and people lined up on Fridays to hear a master orator stage imaginary horse races.

A decade after it closed its doors for good, the St. Louis Hotel will once again be up before city council, where the 2008 bylaw designating it as a municipal historical resource will be repealed.

There’s no need, though, for local history buffs to act as human shields to fight off a wrecking ball. The repeal slated for Dec. 15 will be a short-lived one, its historic designation to be lifted only temporarily in order to release the vacant land surrounding it.

“One of the things we’ve tried to do with the East Village is recognize its past whenever possible,” says Michael Brown, president and CEO of Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, the community’s master developer. “The St. Louis, the King Eddy, the Hillier Block — they’re all a significant part of its story.”

Many long-time Calgarians would agree. Even with boards currently covering the neo-classical style building’s doors and windows, the 100-year-old St. Louis is an eye-catching architectural remnant of a bygone era.

It was developed by long-time city leader Col. James Walker, who in 1975 was named the City of Calgary’s “Citizen of the Century.”

Like its neighbour the King Edward Hotel, its position at Eighth Avenue and Fourth Street S.E., just two blocks east of the cira-1913 Grand Trunk Pacific Railway station, situated it nicely for decades of providing shelter for everyone from new arrivals to railway workers.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Louis, as its loyal fans called it, became even more famous as the favoured hangout of then-mayor Ralph Klein. His large coterie of friends and acquaintances, which would come to include everyone from bankers, judges and oilmen to city employees and blue collar workers, made its downstairs bar one of the busiest, most happening places to be in the young city of then less than a half million souls.

In recent times, the building was a shadow of its former self, with both its interior and outside surroundings becoming a haven for prostitution and drugs. Now, with an architecture firm recently acquired to guide its revitalization, the hotel’s fans can look forward to a new era, with it nestled next door to a future condo tower and a stone’s throw from the future homes of the National Music Centre and the new Calgary public library.

Standing in front of the hotel on Tuesday morning, Cynthia Klaassen expresses her approval for the way the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation has woven buildings like the St. Louis into its master plan.

“This gives us a sense of place, of where we are and it helps to tell the story of Calgary,” says Klaassen, president of the Calgary Heritage Initiative Society. “Its location on a cul de sac will provide a pedestrian-friendly, human-scale entry to everything here.”

Klaassen says she is also impressed with what they’ve done with the 103-year-old Simmons building a few blocks away. “It’s going to be a great destination on the waterfront,” she says of the building that’s slated to open next summer, with such treasured local institutions as Sidewalk Citizen Bakery and Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters as tenants.

“I give them a B,” says Klaassen of the efforts being made to preserve the remaining historical structures in the East Village. “But if they could save the Cecil Hotel, then I’d bump that to an A.”

While he is not making any promises, Michael Brown says such a rebirth recently came one step closer to reality.

“We just purchased it from the city,” he says of the long-shuttered Cecil.

“We’ll be doing an assessment on it, to see if it can be restored — we will definitely see what we can do to make it a functional part of the community.”

As for the St. Louis, he is confident that it will be reborn in a manner consistent with its past glory.

“We have a pretty good idea it’ll be a mix of office and retail,” he says, “with a restaurant space on the main floor and a bar in the basement.”

No doubt, the late premier Ralph Klein, once king of the Louis, would approve.

vfortney@calgaryherald.com

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