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Houlton House (Congress) Apartments
Calgary
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Houlton House (Congress) Apartments is a three-storey, Classical Revival-style building contructed 1911-12. The building is distinguished by its buff-coloured brick exterior and it’s pairing with an identical, adjacent, apartment building, the Moxam Apartments. The Houlton House (Congress) Apartments are located in the Beltline community and contribute to the historical, upscale, residential character of the area.
Heritage Value
The Houlton House (Congress) Apartments, constructed 1911-12, were originally known as the Houlton House Apartments, and renamed the Congress Apartments by 1939. The building was commissioned by Sydney Houlton, a local real-estate developer and member of the City’s Planning Commission, and constructed by John A. Moxam of the Moxam Realty and Construction Company. Moxam was a significant and prolific Winnipeg’s realtor and contractor who expanded his business to Calgary at about the same time the Houlton House (Congress) Apartments were developed. Moxam was intimately familiar with apartment house development in Winnipeg, where he is claimed to have developed more apartment buildings than any other developer at the time.
Moxam constructed the building as one of Calgary’s finest apartment residences. James J. O’Gara, an important local architect was commissioned to design the building – as well as the identical, adjacent Moxam Apartments. Prior to the first World War O’Gara made a name for himself in Calgary designing several fine apartments houses, including the Marlborough, Connaught, and Argyle Apartments, as well as beautiful residences and public buildings..
The development of the Houlton House (Congress) Apartments and Moxam Apartments produced two of Calgary’s most handsome and high-class apartment residences, with the buildings being among the best examples in the city of Classical Revival style architecture. Each features a high-quality, buff-coloured brick exterior; sandstone detailing; a substantial cornice; quoining; and symmetrical appearance. Originally an elegant portico and balconies faced the building, adding to the character.
Other elements of the building’s design that mark its high quality include verandas and balconies for all suites; excellent sunlight and air provision; wide interior corridors; unusually spacious suites; and a secondary entrance to each unit for trades people and deliveries. Each of the 12 units contained six-rooms, including two-bedrooms, foyer and dining room – notable since most apartment houses in Calgary at the time contained only bachelor or one-bedroom suites. Such features appealed to the initial occupants which comprised members of the managerial and professional classes.
The Houlton House (Congress) Apartments also serves to recall the area’s status as a choice residential neighbourhood at the time of its construction. Within the city’s original exclusive residential area of 12 – 14 Avenues, the Houlton House (Congress) Apartments exemplifies and contributed to the attractive early character of this part of the Beltline community. Prior to the development of Mount Royal, this portion of the Beltline was occupied by other impressive apartment houses and numerous substantial residences. Only a small number of these impressive structures remain due to rapid re-development of the area in the 1950s and later, making the Houlton House (Congress) Apartments an important, integral reminder of the area’s earlier history and character.
Due to the Houlton House’s (Congress) dignified architecture, distinctive buff-coloured brick exterior, pairing with the Moxam Apartments, and its contribution to the collective historic character of the streetscape (along with extant contemporaries like the Lougheed House, the Birkenshaw Residence and the Ranchmen’s Club), the Houlton House (Congress) Apartments is a valuable landmark in the community.
Character-Defining Elements
- rectangular, three-storey, flat-roof form; u-shaped plan;
- buff-and grey-colored brick exteriors, laid to form quoins (at building corners). foundation level brickwork relief consisting of horizontal bands;
- sandstone lintels, sills, stringcourses and doorway surrounds;
- pressed-metal cornice in block-modillion and dentil design;
- regular, symmetrical fenestration with large rectangular openings;
- the original three-story portico with entablature with block-modillions and dentils, classic corbels and corner columns, with ionic order capitals, set on buff colored brick clad pedestals; second storey balcony with classic corbels and railing;
- the main central entrance with wood doorway assembly; second and third-storey portico doorway assemblies with transom lights and sidelights
- wooden rear and side verandas within covered light well (east side veranda has skylight); and
- spacious setbacks to the street.
Interior elements:
- those portions of the original configuration relating to the original 12-unit, 6-room plan;
- original finishes within the units such as hardwood floors, wooden doors and mouldings, fireplaces with bracketed mantle and tile-clad chimneypieces, cast iron radiators, claw-foot tubs, and kitchen cabinetry;
- wide interior corridors with open staircase (plain wood balustrades); entrance foyer and secondary (trades) entrances to each of the original 12 units.
Location
| Street Address: |
725 - 13 Avenue SW |
| Community: |
Calgary |
| Boundaries: |
Lots 7, 8 and a portion of Lot 9, Block 91, Plan A1 |
| Contributing Resources: |
Building: 1
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ATS Legal Description:
PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
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Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
A1
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91
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7-9
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Latitude/Longitude:
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Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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51.040642 |
-114.078201 |
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NAD 83 |
UTM Reference:
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Northing |
Easting |
Zone |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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Recognition
| Recognition Authority: |
Local Governments (AB) |
| Designation Status: |
Municipal Historic Resource |
| Date of Designation: |
2018/02/20 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1911 to 1912 |
| Period of Significance: |
1906 to 1913 |
| Theme(s): |
Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life : Architecture and Design
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| Historic Function(s): |
Residence : Multiple Dwelling
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| Current Function(s): |
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| Architect: |
James Joseph O'Gara
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| Builder: |
Moxam Realty and Construction Co.
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| Context: |
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Additional Information
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