|
Riveredge Park
Calgary
Other Names:
|
Butlin Homestead Lands
|
Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
Riveredge Park is a 9.5 hectare (23 acre) City of Calgary recreational area and former agricultural land which has served as a day camp since 1967. It is set in the Elbow River valley in the southwest community of Glenmore Park and is bounded by 50th Avenue to the north, the Elbow River to the south and east, and an escarpment to the west. The southwest portion (9 acres), operated as YMCA Camp Riveredge, and consists of a large triangular archery field to the west and a heavily treed area to the south. The northeast portion (10 acres), operated by the Between Friends Club as Camp Bonaventure, is characterized by an expansive central grassy field planted with borders and parallel hedgerows of mature hedges and trees. The western edge of the land (4 acres) is primarily a steep escarpment sloping up to 14 Street SW and down to the Elbow River and includes a small cottage residence.
Heritage Value
Riveredge Park is a rare surviving cultural landscape of undeveloped, former agricultural lands within inner-city Calgary. The park recalls the agricultural activity which defined early Calgary and occurred on the property in the late 1800 and first half of the 1900s. The land, cultivated by farmers and gardeners for decades, still displays discernable agricultural patterns and features: the large central planting field, a smaller triangular field and planted borders. Visible from the south-east and south-west; its distinctive, undeveloped character stands in contrast to the surrounding developed neighbourhoods.
From the 1880’s through 1907 the land was directly owned by individuals involved with farming: Joseph Butlin, rancher and quarry operator, William Ford, livery stable keeper, and gardeners George Wells, William Hole and James Anderson. Planted fields and hedgerows shown in 1920s-50s aerial photographs indicate Riveredge was likely also leased as agricultural land for the following decades. During this period, possibly 1930s, a small wood-shingle-clad cabin and adjacent shed built of rough-sawn lumber were built on the property on the banks of the Elbow River. The buildings were likely built for Dr. Leon Beauchemin, an owner at the time, who likely used the cabin for leisure purposes. The most westerly portion of the land, as the escarpment levels out, sits a cottage possibly also associated with the agricultural uses. There were three outbuildings south, adjacent to the river, which are associated with the property, the longest in form said to be a chicken coop. The date of the cottage residence is unknown and it appears to be two attached smaller gabled-roof cottages. However, the wooden drop siding, sash windows and doors are indicative of an Edwardian or earlier building and both it and the out-buildings are extant in the 1924 aerial photograph.
In the late 19th century, the land was owned by Joseph Butlin (1858-1924), an important Calgary pioneer rancher, quarry operator and police constable during the city’s earliest settlement period. Kingston-born Butlin came to western Canada with the North-West Mounted Police with the in 1874 Dufferin march to Fort MacLeod and served with the F Troop for six years, including five years at Fort Calgary and service during the 1885 North West Riel Rebellion. In 1875 he married Angelique Roussell (1859-46), daughter of Métis pioneers Louis and Angelique Roussell. In 1880 he left the force to establish a homestead and raise his family of ten children. In 1884 he was elected as an official of Calgary’s first agricultural society which promoted farming and the city’s natural beauty. By 1885 his twenty-seven acre ranch, which may have comprised Riveredge, had sixty cattle, seventeen horses and small stock, plus twenty-five broken acres, a barn, stable and farmhouse. By 1896, Butlin was employed by friend Patrick Burns as a butcher, and in 1901 he left to run a Burns slaughterhouse in Wetaskiwin.
Riveredge Park has been associated with the day camp movement for over four decades, is Calgary’s first day camp for disabled persons and fourth day camp. In 1955 the park was acquired by eminent Calgary philanthropist and businessman Eric Harvie (1892-75), one year before the land was annexed. Between 1952 and 1956, through Glenbow Investments, Harvie worked with the City to establish a “park for rest and relaxation in a natural setting”, donating the lands currently known as River Park as well as funds for park management. The name Riveredge was likely taken from Harvie’s Riveredge Foundation which he established in 1967, named for his Calgary residence. In 1979 Harvie’s Devonian Foundation sold the land to the City. Since 1982 the City of Calgary has leased the park to the YMCA and Between Friends to operate two separate day camps during the summer.
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character include but are not limited to its:
- layout and landscape features which recall its agriculture use: plantings along park borders; linear hedgerows and alleys of trees planted to provide a windbreak and shade, and to partition land; extensive grassed areas unbroken by paved roads or pathways, or by barriers;
- plantings including parallel hedgerows of mixed shrubs, allees of trees bordered by shrubs, circular planting of shrubs and trees around fire-pit; circular planting of shrubs and trees in centre of main field;
- relation to the wider surrounding green space and river valley including the River Park/Britannia Slopes/Sandy Beach park system and the Calgary Golf and Country Club across the river;
- views to the former quarry from the river bank; and
- small cottage residence: form and scale expressed by its one-storey, rectangular plan with cross gabled roof; woodframe construction clad in wooden drop siding, wood trim and cornerboards; projecting eaves and verges with plain wood fascia board; wooden soffit boards; fenestration patterns on all façades; original windows such as one-over-one sash windows and wooden storms; front entrance and step on south elevation; original front and back doors.
Location
| Street Address: |
1215 - 50 Avenue SW |
| Community: |
Calgary |
| Boundaries: |
A Portion of Block B and Block C, Plan 270AP and a Portion of Legal Subdivision 13 in 33-23-1-W5 |
| Contributing Resources: |
Collection
|
ATS Legal Description:
|
Mer |
Rge |
Twp |
Sec |
LSD |
5
|
1
|
23
|
33
|
13
|
PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
|
Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
270AP
|
B, C, OT
|
|
|
Latitude/Longitude:
|
Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
|
51.007354 |
-114.090758 |
|
NAD 83 |
UTM Reference:
|
Northing |
Easting |
Zone |
CDT |
Datum Type |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recognition
| Recognition Authority: |
Local Governments (AB) |
| Designation Status: |
Municipal Historic Resource |
| Date of Designation: |
2014/03/31 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1880 to 1907 |
| Period of Significance: |
1885 to 1905 |
| Theme(s): |
|
| Historic Function(s): |
Food Supply : Farm or Ranch
|
| Current Function(s): |
|
| Architect: |
|
| Builder: |
|
| Context: |
|
|
|
Additional Information
|