At 7:57am this morning, about 20 minutes ago, I heard thunder. Extremely strange noise for October in these parts, especially when it rolls on for longer than a few seconds.
It wasn't thunder. It was the implosion of this:
Photo from Calgary Heritage Initiative
Here's a video of the implosion:
And a photo breakdown of the event.
The Ogden Federal Grain Elevator at Bonnyville was built in 1915 and was a masterpiece of architecture in its time. It was a link in a chain of elevators that stretched across Canada, totalling about 6000 at one point with roughly 500 still standing somewhere in the country, even less than that are still operational.
While these concrete elevators might not be an aesthetically pleasing site for those without appreciation of industrial architecture, they were an integral part of our city's landscape and were functional up until several months ago. The problem, and ultimate reason for their demolition, was the difficulty in repurposing such a structure. The silos you see on the right are just that, round tubes of concrete meant to hold grain. Windowless, and otherwise functionless.
Photo from samuel.boisvert
While large concrete elevator facilities like this were used as central hubs in larger areas across the Praire and country, most elevators were wooden and located in small towns. They are now known by nostalgic names like "Towers of Silence" and "Vanishing Sentinels". Grain elevators feature prominently on the praire landscape and are often used in art and as symbols of agriculture and the praire spirit.
Photo from the Canadian Grain Elevator Discovery Centre in Nanton, AB
Art by Peter Thompson
Calgary itself has a lengthy history of demolishing its historical buildings including its largest central downtown hospital, the General Hospital in Bridgeland, in 1998. A mistake if there ever was one!
Some others that would have been wonderful to leave up include:
"1969 - The James Short School's demolition to make way for the Greyhound Bus Terminal in downtown Calgary. The Sheraton Hotel in the background was later demolished as well."
"1950s - Robin Hood Flour Mills, 401-9 Ave SW was demolished to make room for Gulf Canada Square."
So tragic! I adore industrial architecture. Lack of appropriate reuse possibilities is just an excuse for lack of creativity, if you ask me!
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