The Century Homes Calgary program has now ended. We are no longer adding homes to the inventory or providing banners.

ABOUT THE CELEBRATION

The Century Homes Calgary Celebration was a grassroots initiative to celebrate the homes constructed during Calgary’s first building boom which started in 1904, peaked in 1912 and ended with the onset of the First World War. Preparations began in the summer of 2011 and ran during Historic Calgary Week in 2012, the centenary of the peak of the boom. 

Century Homes Calgary was made possible by the Calgary Heritage Initiative Society which collaborated with the organizations below, as well as the work of many volunteers and homeowners who are passionate about Calgary’s built heritage. 

  • Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association
  • Cliff Bungalow-Mission Community Association
  • Heritage Calgary
  • Calgary Public Library
  • Chinook Country Historical Society
  • The Federation of Calgary Communities

The project saw an exceptional level of engagement centred on Calgary’s historic houses. Hundreds of homeowners participated by researching their homes, creating story signs, and displaying signs and banners on their front lawns. Volunteers were involved with guiding homeowners, producing and distributing banners, and creating interactive online maps and a database of stories and photographs for participating homes. Calgarians were inspired to stroll through historic inner-city communities to read the story signs, or to interact electronically with the online maps and stories. The 1912 event was so successful it ran again in 2013!

CENTURY HOMES CALGARY LEGACY 

The project has ended but the engagement continues. The Williams and Harris Shared History Centre at Calgary Public Library is now home to the 2012 and 2013 Century Homes legacy database for the houses. Archival information associated with the Century Homes Project now resides at the City of Calgary Archives.    

CHI carries on a number of initiatives to support heritage homeowners and make it easier to own a century building including:

CENTURY HOMES CALGARY AWARDS

Seemingly ‘ordinary‘ homes captivated curious passers-by with their stories, answering questions like “Who once lived here?”, “What were their lives like?”, “Who built me?” and “What style am I?”

Century Homes Calgary was recognized in 2012 with the prestigious Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Community Programming , and again in 2014 with the Heritage Calgary Lion Award for Community Vitalization.

FIND CENTURY HOMES ONLINE

The party’s over but you can still follow and contact us on Facebook and twitter. 

Twitter: @CenturyHomesYYC

Facebook: facebook.com/CenturyHomesCalgary

Email: contact@centuryhomes.org

Century Homes Calgary gratefully acknowledges the support of our many sponsors:

  • Alberta Historical Resources Foundation
  • AREF (Alberta Real Estate Foundation)
  • Calgary 2012 Government of Canada CHA (now Heritage Calgary)
  • Calgary City Council Strategic Initiative Fund (CSIF)
  • Calgary Foundation
  • CHI (Calgary Heritage Initiative)
  • City of Calgary Heritage Planning
  • Cliff Bungalow-Mission CA
  • Debbie Ferguson/RE/MAX Real Estate
  • Hillhurst Sunnyside CA
  • Government of Canada Calgary 2012 Cultural Capital grant
  • Government of Canada Governor General Award Award proceeds
  • Halyna Tataryn/Tataryn Group Real Estate
  • Rick Clowes/Royal LePage Solutions
  • Shell Canada Ltd.

Century Homes Calgary (CHC) collaborated with The Calgary Heritage Initiative Society (CHI) to advance our respective purposes of celebrating century-old homes and heritage preservation in Calgary. Ongoing communications for CHC through social media or other methods are managed by an independent group of volunteers and homeowners and CHI is not responsible for the content. CHI hosts the CHC webpage as an information service to the heritage community.