Description of Historic Place

The Calgary Milling Company Building, built 1901-03, is a two-storey Edwardian Commercial style building featuring a rock-faced sandstone facade and decorative metal cornices. The building is situated in downtown Calgary on Stephen Avenue, a National Historic District. The property was protected as a Municipal Historic Resource in 1999 and as a Provincial Historic Resource in 2001.

Heritage Value

The Calgary Milling Company Building survives as the only tangible reminder of what was Calgary's oldest flour milling company and was constructed in 1901-03 as the company's retail store. The company was originally founded in 1892 as the Alberta Roller Flour Mill and was instrumental in promoting economic development and agricultural settlement in the Calgary area. In 1898 the mill was reestablished as the Calgary Milling Company, and in 1903 opened this store to market company products. Apart from specializing in their trademark, 'Hungarian' brand flour, the store was considered to be the most luxurious, largest, and complete purveyor of groceries in the city. The size of the store also made it one of the largest in the country devoted exclusively to groceries. The store was locally famous for its marble trimmed interior and technological innovations such as sprinklers to keep the vegetables fresh. Isaac K. Kerr and Peter A. Prince, who were prominent Calgary industrialists of the era are associated with the company. Kerr, who was president of the Eau Claire and Bow River Lumber Co. also served as president of the Calgary Milling Company; Prince served as the vice-president and manager of both companies and was president of the Calgary Water Power Company. The store was a well-known fixture in Calgary until 1930, being known as John Irwin and Company after 1911. From 1930 until 1991 the building served as the store for the Nippon Silks and Products Co., known as Silk-O-Lina Ltd. after 1941, selling silk, porcelain and giftware.

The Calgary Milling Company Building is also significant as an example of the sandstone construction that characterized Calgary's early development. Rock-faced, Calgary sandstone comprises the building's facade which is further distinguished by an elaborate neoclassical style metal parapet and decorative cornices typical of the smaller-scale Edwardian Commercial buildings of the era. The building's sandstone construction and its turn-of-the-century origins make it an integral component of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century structures which make up the Stephen Avenue National Historic District.

Source: City of Calgary Heritage Planning File 01-127

Character-Defining Elements

The exterior character-defining elements of the Calgary Milling Company Building include such features as its:
- long rectangular plan with a short facade, a two-storey form and flat roof;
- sandstone and timber construction;
- rock-faced, sandstone, second-storey facade and first-storey piers;
- storefront and roofline pressed metal cornices displaying neoclassical mouldings (dentil, egg-and-dart) and brackets;
- pressed metal parapet comprising panelled balusters and classical lyre-motif decorative elements;
- regular, symmetrical fenestration pattern with large rectangular windows containing multi-pane transom lights;
- large, recessed-entry, storefront openings.