The notorious Cecil Hotel, shuttered since city council ordered its closure in 2008, will face the wrecking ball this fall after a series of structural assessments determined the century-old building cannot be salvaged.
“(The Cecil) simply is really not able to be maintained. It’s a disaster really the inside of that building,” Calgary Municipal Land Corporation vice-president Susan Veres said Wednesday.
The city paid $10.9 million for the property in 2008. CMLC, which is overseeing redevelopment of the East Village, acquired it earlier this year with plans to develop a mixed-use project on the 4th Avenue and 3rd Street S.E. site. It will seek a developer to buy the property next year. A smaller building, known years ago as Beer Land, will also be demolished.
The corporation is working to remove any salvageable pieces of historical value from the building, including the large neon scaffold sign that will come down Friday, said CMLC president Michael Brown.
“It will be restored to its original colours and condition and then placed into storage until such time as a community use can be identified,” said Brown.
“We are fully aware that some Calgarians were hoping the Cecil could somehow be saved, as it’s one of only six pre-First World War hotels still standing in Calgary. But following decades of neglect plus the ravages of fire and flood; rehabilitation and restoration simply aren’t feasible options.”
News of the hotel’s planned demolition was met with a mix of joy and disappointment Wednesday.
“It’s too bad to see the heritage go, but at the same time with that being gone, it’s cleaning up the neighbourhood and it’s going to help us on our business side of things, especially with the walking area; the safety side of things,” said Mike Young, general manager of Bookers BBQ and Crab Shack, located across the street from the Cecil.
The Cecil opened in 1912 with 54 rooms that provided short-term housing for boom-era workers. By the 1970s, the hotel’s tavern was known as a magnet for drugs, prostitution and violence. In its final days of operation, city police described it as a site of persistent criminal activity which led to the suspension of the hotel tavern’s business licence in December 2008.
Elsbeth Mehrer, director of external relations for the YWCA of Calgary, said the agency was negatively affected by activity associated with the hotel when it was operating next door.
“It fed addictions. It fed violence. It certainly preyed upon people who were vulnerable … There’s not much salvageable from what I understand within the structure,” she said.
“All that side, our perspective is that it contributed to some pretty nasty social situations and I think we shouldn’t forget that human impact it had in recent years and I think there are people and families who won’t be sad to see it go.”
Cynthia Klaassen, president of the Calgary Heritage Initiative Society, said the decision to tear down the Cecil was disappointing but not unexpected.
“It is a part of Calgary’s history, a part of its past. And as the city continues to evolve we’re rapidly losing all of these little touch points that we used to have that told us a story about the city as it was when it was first born,” she said.
CMLC said a 1982 fire that engulfed the top floor of the three-storey hotel diminished its historical value while the flood of June 2013 “took a heavy toll on the building’s structural integrity.
“The building is infested with mould and continues to take on water from a damaged roof top,” it said.
Williams Engineering Canada conducted a structural assessment in May and deemed the Cecil to be in poor condition due to foundation settlement, deteriorated shoring beams, missing shoring posts, corroded steel structural elements, unsupported timber beams and numerous other issues. That finding supported a similar 2009 conclusion by Stantec following its inspection of the building.
A heritage review by Donald Luxton Associates earlier this month found the Cecil’s only salvageable elements include the neon sign, its tin roof cornice, north and west masonry facade, and a number of cast-iron radiators, bathtubs and sinks.
Councillor Druh Farrell said she’s disappointed the Cecil will be torn down.
“I’m still seeking answers on whether or not we could save a portion of the building in a new development,” she said. “We knew because of the setbacks and the flood plain that the Cecil would need to be rebuilt if anything happened further back on the site. But can we reuse some of the bricks?
“I know facade restoration is the lowest form of restoration but is it something we could look at for even a portion of it?”
Farrell said she would prefer the Cecil Hotel sign be restored and replaced on the site.
Debbie Newman, executive director of the nearby Calgary Drop-In Centre, said she’s eager to learn what’s planned for the site.
“Certainly it’s been a site that has generated a lot of controversy through the years and also a lot of speculation as to what the site could be used for,” she said. “Everybody probably has not too far distant memories of what the Cecil was over many, many years.
“Certainly for us, the Cecil represents an affordable housing complex for many people and when the Cecil, in addition to many other hotels, have been closed for us it’s meant more people using shelter because they had no other affordable housing to go to.”
