Category: Municipal Heritage Services

Municipal Heritage Forum 2014 – Request for Presenters

rebeccagoodenough

As previously announced, the 2014 Municipal Heritage Forum will be held on October 16th and 17th at the Lacombe Memorial Centre with sessions to be held in and around their award winning Main Street. The theme of this year’s forum is “New Ideas for Historic Places: Conservation through Technology and Innovation”. We are planning some exciting sessions to get you thinking about social media, mapping and documentation as well as workshops on using technology for building conservation. We hope to see you there! Registration will open and keynote speakers will be announced in June.

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(Note: social media graffiti not actually real!)

For those of you who have attended past Forum’s you will be familiar with the Municipal Show and Tell sessions. Show and Tell is an opportunity for municipalities and volunteer groups to present projects they have been working on to their peers. It is a great way to learn about different heritage initiatives and to make valuable contacts for the future. The challenge we always have organizing Municipal Show and Tell is that you heritage conservationists are a humble group – many of you don’t realize how interesting your projects are and how much others can learn from you. Year after year we get feedback telling us how valuable the Show and Tell is to participants so we strongly encourage you to send us your ideas or recommendations! Presentations are approximately 15 minutes long, with time for questions included. If you would like to forward an idea for the Municipal Show and Tell e-mail us at albertahistoricplaces@gov.ab.ca. 

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Written by: Rebecca Goodenough, Municipal Heritage Services Officer

Fort Saskatchewan Approves Historic Precinct Site Master Plan

rebeccagoodenough

The City of Fort Saskatchewan is one step closer to realizing their vision for the development and interpretation of a significant community amenity through Council’s recent approval of the Historic Precinct Site Master Plan Guiding Document. Located adjacent to the City’s downtown and along the edge of the North Saskatchewan River, the Historic Precinct provides a unique opportunity to showcase the cultural history of Fort Saskatchewan and to develop a space for public learning and enjoyment.

Historic Precinct Area
Historic Precinct Area

The Approach

The Historic Precinct contains an array of man-made and natural elements that contribute to the telling of the story of Fort Saskatchewan. Project consultants EIDOS Consultants Inc. and Marshall Tittemore Architects approached the conceptualization of the space as a cultural landscape, wherein:

“An important part of the Precinct’s heritage value is found in the relics of law and order and public works, including buildings, structures, sightlines, earth mounds, plant materials and features that remain in situ. These relics constitute part of the heritage value of the area by providing tangible evidence of how it was transformed and used by the NWMP, Canadian Northern Railway, the Province and the City.” (Historic Precinct Site Master Plan, page 9).

The planning process sought to integrate local values into the final plan and therefore included public and stakeholder consultation through surveys, open houses and workshop sessions.

The City of Fort Saskatchewan’s Diane Yanch, Culture & Historic Precinct Supervisor and Richard Gagnon, Director of Culture Services display a copy of the completed Historic Precinct Master Plan
The City of Fort Saskatchewan’s Diane Yanch, Culture & Historic Precinct Supervisor and Richard Gagnon, Director of Culture Services display a copy of the completed Historic Precinct Master Plan

The Master Plan

The Master Plan involved considering the long-term development and interpretation of the historic precinct, including integration of existing Provincial Historic Resources, recommendations for pedestrian circulation and way-finding, interpretation opportunities and development of a conceptual design for a new Interpretive Centre. A detailed phasing plan was also provided to allow the City to structure implementation in a coordinated and cost-effective manner.

Historic Precinct Site Master Plan
Historic Precinct Site Master Plan

The uniqueness of the site is exemplified by the existence of three Provincial Historic Resources within its boundaries including the North West Mounted Police Post, the Fort Saskatchewan Museum (Courthouse), and the Canadian Northern Railway Station. These three historic resources are proposed to be key elements in the interpretation and programming of the Historic Precinct and are considered as Historic Precinct Nodes in the Master Plan.

  • Original 1875 Fort Site Node – This Provincial Historic Resource is presently an open native grass field and will remain untouched during development, with the long term goal of undertaking small scale research and public archaeology programs in partnership with interested academic institutions, archaeological societies and the Province of Alberta.
  •  Fort Saskatchewan Museum and Cultural Village Node – The Fort Saskatchewan Museum (Courthouse) is a designated Provincial Historic Resource. The Master Plan calls for the land surrounding the Courthouse to be utilized as a ‘cultural village’ in which historic buildings and artifacts will be displayed.
  •  Railway Node – The CNR Station will continue to be space for use by community groups. The area around the Station will be enhanced to include an opportunity to showcase other rail infrastructure, landscaping and opportunity to enhance access to the adjacent Legacy Park and farmer’s market plaza.

Other Historic Precinct Nodes proposed within the plan include a Gaol Node, Religion Node, MétisNode and First Nations Node.

Next Steps

The City will continue with planning the programming for the future Interpretive Centre with hopes of breaking ground by the end of 2014. Conservation Plans have been prepared for the Courthouse/Museum and CNR Railway Station to ensure that on-going improvements and maintenance are consistent with accepted conservation practices. In accordance with the terms of designation, approvals will be obtained for any projects within the site that will affect the Provincial Historic Resources as well as work in the vicinity of the NWMP Police Post due to the high archaeological potential of the site.

Proposed General Concept Design of the Interpretive Centre
Proposed General Concept Design of the Interpretive Centre

The Historic Precinct Master Plan was partially funded by the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation under the Heritage Management Plan grant category of the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program. Though Heritage Management Plans typically take the form of a document that outlines policy and a process for municipal designation, the grant category is flexible and can apply to projects that involve planning and policy development for the stewardship of historic resources more broadly. The Historic Precinct Site Master Plan is an example of how the program can be tailored to meet the unique needs of municipalities.

Written by: Rebecca Goodenough, Municipal Heritage Services Officer

Crowsnest Pass Phase 2 Heritage Inventory Underway

rebeccagoodenough

The Municipality of Crowsnest Pass contains the communities of Coleman, Blairmore, Frank, Hillcrest and Bellevue. Crowsnest Pass has a rich history in coal mining and trade unionism, and therefore, has much to offer in the way of historic resources.

20th Avenue, Blairmore
20th Avenue, Blairmore

As a result of this rich and varied history, the Municipality has acknowledged the importance of identifying places of significance in the community. Given the breadth of possible historic resources within the municipality’s boundaries, Crowsnest Pass determined that a three-phase heritage inventory would be required to comprehensively assess potential sites. The first phase was completed in 2013 and inventoried 31 sites in the Coleman area. The second phase is being completed in 2014 and is looking at historic resources in Blairmore and Frank. The third and final phase will look at historic sites in the Hillcrest and Bellevue area and is proposed to be undertaken in 2015.

55 residents attended a public open house held on April 23rd at the Blairmore Elks Hall to provide feedback on possible sites to be included in the second phase of the heritage inventory. Consultants Community Design Strategies Inc. presented 65 possible historic resources for residents to provide feedback on in terms of historical information and opinions regarding the significance of each site. The results of the open house will be reviewed by the Crowsnest Pass Municipal Historic Resource Board and refined to a list of 45 sites for further evaluation. These 45 sites will have Statements of Significance prepared for them and will be presented back to the community for further review and comment at a second open house to be scheduled later this year.

Ken Bourdeau, Development Officer with the Municipality of the Crowsnest Pass and Merinda Conley, Principal with Community Design Strategies Inc. ready to speak with residents at the open house.
Ken Bourdeau, Development Officer with the Municipality of the Crowsnest Pass and Merinda Conley, Principal with Community Design Strategies Inc. ready to speak with residents at the open house.

The event provided residents and property owners the opportunity to comment on the 65 places of interest and to speak with representatives of the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, the Municipal Historic Resources Board and Alberta Culture about the heritage inventory project and municipal historic resource designation in general.

Heritage inventory projects are supported by the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program and provide municipalities with the process and tools to assess possible historic sites within their boundaries for future municipal historic resource designation.

Written by: Rebecca Goodenough, Municipal Heritage Services Officer

A “Team Effort”, High River continues Heritage Inventory

Matthew Francis

For good reason, the Town of High River has been featured several times on the pages of RETROactive – for its heritage work – over the past few years: 

On Wednesday March 26th, at the aptly named Heritage Inn, a community Open House was held for the second phase of the Town’s Heritage Inventory. While the first phase focused primarily on evaluating historic commercial buildings in the downtown area, this second round concentrates more on residential properties that have heritage value to High River.  Hosted by the Town, the Open House featured attendance from both the professional heritage consultants engaged by the Town, as well as Historic Resources Management Branch staff.

Matthew Francis, Manager of Municipal Heritage Services talks with an owner of a Municipal Historic Resource.
Matthew Francis, Manager of Municipal Heritage Services talks with an owner of a Municipal Historic Resource.

Over 40 members of the community came out to participate in the Open House. Guided by Town staff, the consultant team, and members of the Heritage Advisory Board, attendees busily engaged themselves in providing local knowledge, writing comments about each of the properties identified for evaluation. Attendees from the community also had the opportunity to speak with Alberta Culture staff, to get answers about the Municipal Historic Resource designation process, or about tecnical conservation issues.

Alberta Culture Heritage Conservation Advisor Fraser Shaw provides information to a property owner at the High River Heritage Inventory Open House.
Alberta Culture Heritage Conservation Advisor Fraser Shaw provides information to a property owner at the High River Heritage Inventory Open House.

Open House events like these, which are integrated into each Heritage Inventory project, yield tremendous results – increasing knowledge of our historic places, and helping to create a meaningful future for them. As the Town’s Planning Coordinator, Jill Henheffer, shared, “It was totally a team effort.”

Good job, High River!

New Uses for Old Places – Building Additions

rebeccagoodenough

New Uses for Old Places is a RETROactive series in which we are looking at examples from around Alberta of historic places that have found interesting new uses for spaces that were originally designed for other purposes. This week we will be looking at two examples of adaptive reuse projects that have involved the construction of additions to the historic fabric.

As previously discussed in this series, the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada offer guidelines for rehabilitating and adaptively reusing historic places. The “S&Gs” include specific provisions for how decisions can be made that will allow for the modification of buildings over time. A tenant may require additional square footage to continue operations or to start a new business in a historic place. When these situations arise and building additions are required, the Standards & Guidelines provide guidance on how to proceed.

Standard Conserve the heritage value and character-defining elements when creating any new additions to an historic place or any related new construction. Make the new work physically and visually compatible with, subordinate to and distinguishable from the historic place.
Standard Create any new additions or related new construction so that the essential form and integrity of an historic place will not be impaired if the new work is removed in the future.
Guideline Design an addition that is compatible in terms of materials and massing with the exterior form of the historic building and its setting.
Guideline Design a new addition in a manner that draws a clear distinction between what is historic and what is new.
Guideline Select the location for a new addition that ensures that the heritage value of the place is maintained.

Our first example, the Wetaskiwin Court House, was constructed as a three-storey, red brick building between 1907 and 1909 and served as a legal institution of regional importance for over 70 years. The court house was designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 1977 and the last court sitting was held in 1983.

A major rehabilitation project was undertaken in 2006 to convert the building to accommodate the offices and Council Chambers of the City of Wetaskiwin. As part of the rehabilitation, two new additions were added to either wing of the building. The project involved integration of older materials with new technologies, such as the tie in of the original cast iron radiators with the new geothermal heating and cooling system.

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Our second example, the Strathcona Public Library in the Strathcona neighbourhood of Edmonton, is a two-storey brick structure that was constructed in 1913 and remains the oldest surviving public library in Edmonton. The Strathcona Public Library was designated a Municipal Historic Resource in 2004 and a Provincial Historic Resource in 2008.

Strathcona Public Library

Over the years the use had not changed but the needs of the institution grew and additional space and services became a requirement. A major rehabilitation project was undertaken to construct an addition at the rear of the building (the left portion as shown on the image to the right). The rehabilitated library was re-opened in 2007.

Click on the following link to access a copy of a presentation on this project given by Tom Ward, Manager of Heritage Conservation Advisory Services, at the 2013 Municipal Heritage Forum: Strathcona Library PowerPoint – 2013 Forum.

These projects exemplify that heritage need not be frozen in place. There are means by which to respect and care for the original fabric while allowing for the transformation of uses over time.

Written by: Rebecca Goodenough, Municipal Heritage Services Officer.

Alberta Historical Resources Foundation visits Olds

Michael

The Alberta Historical Resource Foundation held its first quarterly board meeting of 2014 in the town of Olds on February 21st and 22nd.

Alberta Historical Resources FoundationThe Foundation’s board members and staff look forward to the quarterly meetings, each held in a different Alberta community. This allows us to meet the Albertans who work so hard to conserve and promote our heritage; seeing and experiencing the fruits of their labour is both informative and a pleasure.

Friday afternoon began with a bus tour led by Donna Erdman, chair of the Olds Historical Society. Before we boarded the bus, Mitch Thompson of the Olds Institute surprised us by asking us to turn on our smartphones. Mitch showed us the new EverythingOlds.ca website—the Heritage Sites section contains video vignettes showcasing locally significant historic resources. (There’s much more community information on the website too.)

Once the bus got underway, Donna showed us some of the historic places the Town of Olds evaluated in 2009 (with the assistance of a Foundation grant and the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program staff). Many of these places have since been designated as Municipal Historic Resources.

Our bus first stopped at the Mountain View Museum and Archives. There were several interesting displays that used locally significant historical artefacts to highlight the region’s history. We also learned a bit about their archival holdings and viewed some of the contemporary art displayed in the adjoining art gallery.

Our next stop was the former Canadian Bank of Commerce, now home to [sic] Pandora’s Boox and Tea. The beautiful, classically-detailed bank building has been adapted for its new use as a book store and coffee shop. Pandora’s is in the heart of Uptowne Olds, the town’s historic commercial district.

Upon re-boarding the bus, we were slowly driven up and down the several blocks that make up the Uptowne area. We admired the many historic resources in the Uptowne. Olds is one of four communities that the Foundation has accredited through its Alberta Main Street Program. We were impressed by the conservation projects currently being undertaken on several buildings in the Uptowne area (some with the Foundation’s support).

We briefly visited the grounds of the Olds Agricultural Society. Olds’s large Ag society is one of the olds-est (pun not intended) Agricultural Societies in Alberta, having been incorporated in 1899. Our next stop was the Olds College.

Olds College celebrated its centenary in 2013. Founded in 1913, the college is Alberta’s largest and olds-est (there I go again) rural agricultural college. The campus has evolved with the college it houses, but amidst all the modern classrooms, laboratories, libraries and dorms are at least two buildings older that the college they’ve become an integral part of: a calf barn (now home to a herd of goats) and a horse barn. Both buildings were constructed in 1911, when what is now a campus was part of a provincial demonstration farm.

We ended our visit to Olds College by visiting to their state of the art brewery: an example of how the college contributing to Alberta’s future by being true to our agricultural past. The first class of brewers will graduate shortly.

The tour was followed by a meet and greet at the Pomeroy Inn. Thanks to Michelle Jorgensen (Heritage Advisor, Town of Olds) for organising an informative and fun event. It was a pleasure to meet and speak with Mayor Judy Dahl, and with  members of the town staff, the Mountain View Museum and Archives, the Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development, Olds College and many citizens of the area who build the partnerships that protect and promote Old’s wealth of historic resources.

Everyone agreed that it was an afternoon well spent that reminded us of how important our work is; it was the best way for the board to get inspired before spending their Saturday immersed in paperwork.

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The Alberta Historical Resources Foundation has been collaborating with the citizens of Olds through its grant programs for over two decades. The Town of Olds has completed a full range of heritage planning projects with the assistance of the Municipal Heritage Partnership Program, including a heritage survey, inventory and management plan. As an Accredited Main Street Community, the Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development (Olds Main Street sponsoring organization) was recently awarded a coordinator salary subsidy along with marketing, economic development, organization and design grants. The Heritage Preservation Partnership Program has also provided technical advice and conservation grants to a number of Olds’s Municipal Historic Resources.

Written by: Carina Naranjilla, Grant Program Coordinator, Alberta Historical Resources Foundation; and Michael Thome, Municipal Heritage Services Officer.

Main Street Coordinators Meet to Learn and Strategize

Matthew Francis

Local leaders from Alberta Main Street Program communities met recently in Olds for information sharing, learning best practices, and ongoing conversations about the Four-Point Approach®.  

The program, established in 1987 and now renewed with a fresh format, revitalizes historic commercial areas through heritage conservation. The bar for participation is high: communities desiring to participate must complete a Heritage Inventory  of their historic commercial area and commit to meet detailed standards of performance. Those in the Alberta Main Street Program network have met these high criteria and are committed to achieving excellence.

Alberta Main Street Program staff and Coordinators outside the historic Bank of Commerce Building in Olds.
Alberta Main Street Program staff and Coordinators outside the Bank of Commerce Municipal Historic Resource in Olds. Back row, left to right: (Leon Durand, Chair, Uptowne Olds; Michelle Jorgensen, Town of Olds Heritage Advisor) Middle row, left to right: (Michael Thome, Municipal Heritage Services Officer; Matthew Francis, Manager, Municipal Heritage Services; Ted Stilson, Executive Director, Downtown Lethbridge BRZ; Carol-May Coty, Manager, City Centre Camrose; Ray Telford, City of Camrose Economic Development Officer; Ashley Stone, Program Director, Wainwright Buffalo Park Foundation. Front row, left to right: (Rita Thompson, Uptowne Olds; Rebecca Goodenough, Municipal Heritage Services Officer; and Debra Aitken, Uptowne Olds Coordinator).

Alberta Main Street Program network members including Uptowne Olds, Downtown Lethbridge, City Centre Camrose, and Wainwright were represented at the coordinator’s meeting, the first in 2014.

Fraser Shaw, Heritage Conservation Adviser with Alberta Culture, who served as the Main Street Coordinator in Ponoka and Black Diamond, delivered an informative presentation on quality design for historic Main Street communities. A key aspect of this is the area of historic signage: what is, and what is not, appropriate. While in the late 19th and early 20th centuries a “wild West” ethic probably prevailed, with “my sign is bigger than your sign” approach usually winning out, commercial areas today are governed by sign bylaws and other regulations. Can these bylaws take into account historic significance and character? The answer is  a definite yes!  – but implementation requires careful planning.

The group learned that determining heritage values and understanding the historic area as a whole provides the basis to answering these kinds of questions. The afternoon learning session sparked many interesting questions and discussions among the Coordinators. Everyone left Olds energized and looking forward to the next quarterly Alberta Main Street Network meeting, which will take place in May.

Written by: Matthew Francis, Manager of Municipal Heritage Services.

Municipal Heritage Forum 2014—Save the Date!

Michael

Every year, the Historic Resources Management Branch organises a conference for Albertans involved in identifying, protecting or conserving historic places at the municipal level. We’re please to announce that the 2014 Municipal Heritage Forum will be held on October 16th and 17th.

Photographed on February 7, 2014
Where is this? (Photographed on February 7, 2014.)

The Municipal Heritage Forum is open to both municipal staff, elected officials and volunteers. It’s a great opportunity to see what your peers in other municipalities are working on and learn about the cutting edge of heritage conservation. If you are working with your municipality in some way to conserve historic places, please save those dates. (Check out some of our posts about past forums if you’d like to learn what the Municipal Heritage Forum is all about.)

Photographed on February 7, 2014
here are we? (Photographed on February 7, 2014)

We are excited to host this year’s forum in a municipality we haven’t held it in yet. Many of you haven’t been here (yet) and will be delighted by their conservation ethic. I’ve posted some pictures of their historic downtown.

Can you guess where the forum will be this year? Post your guess in the comment section, on our Facebook page or tweet us.

UPDATE:  I guess the cat’s out of the bag: we plan to hold the 2014 Municipal Heritage Forum in the City of Lacombe.

Written by: Michael Thome, Municipal Heritage Services Officer.

New Uses for Old Places – The Warehouse Conversion

rebeccagoodenough

This is the first installment of a new series of blog posts on RETROactive entitled New Uses for Old Places. We will be highlighting examples from around Alberta of historic resources that have found interesting, new uses for spaces that were originally designed for different purposes. To start us off we are going to talk about the ubiquitous warehouse conversion.

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One of the best ways to ensure a long and prosperous future for a historic place is to make sure that it is in use. Making certain that people are frequenting a site ensures that a historic resource stays relevant and in the forefront of public consciousness. This can be a challenge given that the purposes for which many of our historic places were originally designed for are now defunct. The conversion of a building to allow for a new use is known as adaptive reuse and it is a process that can require some creative thinking.

The values-based approach to heritage conservation recognizes the importance of activating our historic places and recognizes that alterations may be required to ensure the long-term sustainability of a site. The Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada consider adaptive reuse to be a rehabilitation conservation treatment. Rehabilitation is understood to be “the sensitive adaptation of an historic place or individual component for a continuing or compatible contemporary use, while protecting its heritage value” (Standards & Guidelines, page 16).

A popular form of adaptive reuse/rehabilitation is that of the warehouse conversion. More common in larger cities that once were home to warehousing and manufacturing sectors, warehouse districts are now often surrounded by non-industrial, higher density development and attract investors who see the potential in the character that the former industrial spaces have to offer. Warehouses make good candidates for adaptive reuse because they have large, relatively open floor plates, generous ceiling heights and numerous large windows. These features allow for the flexibility to subdivide the interior space for a variety of purposes without compromising the unique elements that make warehouses so charming (think freight elevators, bank vaults, exposed beams, etc.).

Edmonton and Calgary were home to the majority of manufacturing and shipping in Alberta. As such the majority of extant warehouse structures are located in these two cities, though there are others scattered in other communities across the province. A number of these structures have received historical designation at the municipal and/or provincial level and have been rehabilitated to accommodate a variety of new uses.

Written by: Rebecca Goodenough, Municipal Heritage Services Officer.

Click on the following links to find the listing on the Alberta Register of Historic Places for warehouse buildings featured in the slideshow:

Camrose Feed Mill (Designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 1985)

Canadian Consolidated Rubber Company (Designated a Municipal Historic Resource in 2001)

Customs House (MHR) / Customs Examining Warehouse (PHR) (Designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 1979 and a Municipal Historic Resource in 2009)

H.V. Shaw Building (Designated a Municipal Historic Resource in 2001)

A. MacDonald Building (Designated a Municipal Historic Resource in 2000 and a Provincial Historic Resource in 2003)

Metals Building (Designated a Municipal Historic Resource in 2002)

Phillips Building (Designated a Municipal Historic Resource in 2001)

Simmons Factory Warehouse (Designated a Municipal Historic Resource in 2009)

Heritage by Numbers

editor, RETROactive

header_ARHP

Research and evaluation are important tools for managing Alberta’s historic resources. They help us to set our strategic plans and policies for the future, understand how our grants and programs are working and measure the impact we have made – both on historic places and the people who enjoy them.

So here are a few fun facts that you might not have known about heritage in Alberta:

  • The oldest known building in Alberta still on its original foundation is the Clerk’s Quarters at Fort Victoria near Pakan, which dates from 1865.
  • The first building recognized as a historic resource was the Bitumount Site at Fort McMurray on 4th December 1974.

    A recent photograph of the McLaughlin-Nelson Home.
    The McLaughlin-Nelson Home is the most recent addition to the Alberta Register of Historic Places.
  • Since 2000 the number of places recognized with a designation has increased: 41 percent of all Provincial Historic Resources designations and 84 percent of all Municipal Historic Resources designations occurred during this period. 2001 and 2009 were important years for Provincial Historic Resource designation: 17 buildings were listed both years. For Municipal Historic Resources 2009 was an important year: 45 buildings were listed.
  • With 58 Provincial Historic Resources in Calgary and 48 Provincial Historic Resources in Edmonton these two cities have the most in the province. This is followed by Lethbridge (12), Fort MacLeod (9), and Medicine Hat (8).
  • Edmonton has the most Municipal Historic Resources with 91 in total, where Calgary has 35. This is followed by Red Deer (11), Banff (8) and Wainwright (8).
  • Approximately 20 percent of all Provincial Historic Resource and Municipal Historic Resources in Alberta are used as residences. 67 percent of these buildings are single family dwellings. 66 percent of all designated single family dwellings are located in Edmonton, where the property value of residential buildings designated as Municipal Historic Resources ranges from about $215 000 to $1.3 million.
  • Approximately 19 percent of all buildings designated as Provincial Historic Resources or Municipal Historic Resources are used for commercial purposes. 35 percent of these are used as offices and 32 percent are used for retail or wholesale. Historic buildings are also used for other purposes such as: agriculture, community use, education, government, health care, industry, leisure, spirituality, or transportation.
  • As of December 2012, there are 606 buildings which have been identified as places of interest by municipalities across Alberta. Each requires further research and evaluation to determine if it should be designated as a Municipal Historic Resource.
  • With a collection of over 750 historic resources, it is important that funding is available to help their owners look after these precious places. In 2012-2013, grants of $4.9 million were given by the Ministry through the Alberta Historical Resource Foundation to conserve the province’s heritage landmarks.

Get to know Alberta’s historic resource a bit better by visiting a Provincial Historic Site, Interpretative Centre of Museum or having a walk around your city or town. Historic resources are often easy to spot as many have been recognized with a plaque or interpretation panel. You can also search online for buildings recognized in your community by visiting the Alberta Register of Historic Places. If you think there is a building or site in your community that should be recognized but isn’t, talk to your municipality about how it can be protected for the future.

Written by: Sarah Hill.