The Southam Building was a ten-storey office tower located at 130 7th Avenue Southwest in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Canada. Designed by

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

architectural firm Brown and Vallance and built between 1912 and 1913, the Southam Building was one of Calgary's best examples of

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th cent ...

. Between 1913 and 1932 the building housed the offices of the '' Calgary Daily Herald'', during which time it was also known as the Herald Building. It later served as a

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...

Bus terminal and was known as the Greyhound Building. The Southam Building was demolished in 1972. The Southam Building was one of two buildings at the intersection of 1st Street South West and 7th Avenue South West built contemporaneously by the Southam Company, the other being the Southam Chambers.

History and design

The site on which the Southam Building was located was originally home to the First Baptist Church. The original church was built in 1901 and was destroyed by fire in 1904. It was rebuilt soon after, this time in white brick. After the congregation outgrew the location, the property was sold to the Southam Company, who had bought the ''Calgary Daily Herald'' in 1908. The Montreal architectural firm Brown and Vallance was hired to design a new building for the site, which would serve as the offices for the newspaper. This firm also designed the Canada Life Assurance Building at 301 8th Avenue Southwest. Construction on the Southam commenced in June 1912; the building opened on 13 December 1913. Built with

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

, tawny brick, and sandstone, the Southam was one of a select number of gothic revival buildings in Calgary. The British pottery makers

Royal Doulton Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...

were commissioned to design eight gargoyles to adorn the west wall, each of which depicted a newspaper character. The gargoyles were named "The Architect," "The Other Architect," "The Editor," "The Sub-Editor," "The Steno," "The Cleaning Woman," "The Printer's Devil," and "The Typesetter." The gargoyles were saved when the building was demolished and today can be been on the walls of the Alberta Hotel. The Southam building was demolished in 1972.

Notable tenants

The primary original tenant was the ''Herald'', but offices were also occupied by dentists, physicians, and on the top floor, the radio station

CFAC :''CFAC also stands for Commander Fleet Activities Chinhae'' CFAC is an AM radio station serving Calgary, Alberta. Owned by Rogers Sports & Media, the station broadcasts a sports format branded as ''Sportsnet 960 The Fan'', co-branded with t ...

. Dentist

Frank Sandercock Frank Ernest Sandercock (August 16, 1887October 27, 1942) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He served as president of both the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association, and had previously been an ex ...

practiced in the building during the 1920s and early 1930s. After the ''Herald'' moved to the Southam Chambers in 1933, the building was bought by Greyhound Bus Lines, who occupied the building until it was demolished.

References

* Peach, Jack. ''Days Gone By.'' Saskatoon: Fifth House Ltd., 1993. {{coord, 51.0521, N, 114.0781, W, display=title Historic buildings in Calgary Buildings and structures in Calgary