Key Number:	HS 27665
Site Name:	Coleman Union Hall/Miners Hospital
Other Names:
Site Type:	0203 - Social and Recreational: Community Centre or Hall 1503 - Medical: Hospital or Infirmary

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			8	4	5

Address:	7805 - 18 Avenue
Number:	5
Street:	78
Avenue:	18
Other:
Town:	Crowsnest Pass - Coleman
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:	Rectangular Short Facade
Storeys:	Storeys: 1 1/2
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Concrete
Superstructure:
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:	Medium Gable
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:	Plain Boxed Cornice Main Porch - Roof Type: Hipped Roof Trim - Eaves: Plain Fascia Roof Trim - Eaves: Plain Soffit Roof Trim - Eaves: Plain Frieze Roof Trim - Verges: Returned Eaves Dormer Type: Hip Chimney Stack Material: Brick Main Porch - Type: Closed Porch
Exterior:	Boxed cornice, plain fascial and frieze. Brick chimney, hip dormer belvedere and shed off north elevation. Return eaves, west and east gable ends. Pedimented gable-end, boxed to form recessed gable-end window with decorative cornice above hip closed porch, raised south elevation. Roof plan is T-shaped with base of T at street frontage.
Interior:	There was originally a ward area on the first floor. This was converted to function as a meeting room. The second floor was left intact, as were all windows.
Environment:	No landscaping is evident around the building nor is there any evidence to suggest that any effort has been made in this regard in the past. Small yard - lawn and trees, fenced, east of commercial district on south boundary of school yard.
Condition:	Structurally the building appears to be in good condition. All walls straight and even and the roof line shows no signs of sags or movement. The hall is sitting on a concrete foundation which appears solid although the parging has come loose in several areas. The building exterior, which is stucco and asphalt shingles on the roof, is in good to fair condition. A thorough examination of the roof was not possible because of snow coverage. There are a few small areas where the stucco has started to peel away. North (rear) elevation there is an exit from the upper level which leads to a wood landing and stairs perched atop a flat roofed entry. This wood landing and connecting stairs are in poor shape and should be repaired. The single brick chimney is also in need of some repairs. The most evident signs of deterioration to the exterior is in the window frames and sashes. Practically all windows require some work, such as painting and reconditioning.
Alterations:	The exterior has undergone some alterations during the life of the building. The clapboard siding has been covered with stucco and the sunporch which was added to the south (front) elevation in 1913 has been closed in. Two small closed in entries have been added to the north and west elevation. The interior fabric on the ground floor has undergone extensive alterations since the building ceased being used as a hospital in the 1940s. The area that was the hospital ward has been opened up to create a single large meeting room. The remainder of the ground floor consists of a smaller meeting room and office space. In these areas the ceiling, lighting and wall covering meaterial have been upgraded as requried.

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
N/A Constructed	1905/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
Hospital Meeting hall	1905/01/01 1949/01/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
William Skura & John Sanyshyn & Robert Salant Municipality of Crowsnest Pass	1986/02/28 1987/05/28

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	Edmund Disney
Craftsman:	Wesley Johnston
History:	Built as a hospital in 1905-1906 by Mr. Disney, a builder of many town and company buildings in this era, the buiding was constructed entirely with coal workers' union funds, and its operation has since remained entirely in their hands. At first the hospital may have been used as a lure to get men to join the union, for no one but union members and their families were admitted. Later non-union men and families were allowed admittance if they could pay a $20/week fee. By 1922, an agreement had been reached whereby the coal companies - the International McGillivray Creek Coal Coke Co's. - would deduct from all employees and hand them over to the union for distribution to the hospital. In the beginning the hospital was run by a union committee that gave reports at union meetings, but in 1908 a board of union trustees was formed. The union remained in overall control since all major decisions were put to union votes, and the trustees were held answerable to the union for all their actions. In 1949, a new municipal hospital was built, to which the miners' union sold all its hospital equipment. There was a protracted discussion about what to do with the building, and it was finally decided to have it renovated and turned into a union hall. With the end of coal mining in the Crowsnest Pass area, it became a meeting palce for retired miners and is used for social functions. The historical importance of the building is its forty three year operation as a union run hospital. It is a unique example of a union providing a service which was usually provided by relious orders of sisters or municipal governments. The Galt hospital in Lethbridge is an equally rare example of the creation of a hospital at the initiative of the mineowners. The majority of the hospitals constructed in Alberta at this time were two to three storey structures of masonry construction reflecting a range of architectural styles. They were designed by architects such as Senecal who designed hospitals in Edmonton and Morinville. The Coleman Hospital, however, was not as an elaborate structure. Evidence indicates that the designer of the hospital was the civil engineer for the International Coal and Coke Co. This would explain the utilitarian appearance of the building. Of interest is the ninety degree change of axis from the front 2/3 of the building to the back 1/3, and the recessed gable with scalloped eaves that sits above the now enclosed sun porch and front entrance. This possibly industrially -influenced design may also account for the soundness of the building 80 years after its construction. MINERS' HOSPITAL By the time of the first of the International Coal and Coke Company's underground operations in 1905, there had been four fatalities and a number of injuries at the mine. It was clear to the miners that a hospital was needed. Following a strike in 1905, one of the concessions wrung from the Company was its agreement to provide town lots, free light, water and coal for a hospital. The contract for the hospital was let to Edmund Disney, and much of the interior work was completed by Wes Johnston. When the hospital opened in 1906, it had seventeen beds and included a spacious sun room for convalescing patients. Upstairs there was accommodation for the two hospital nurses. The Miners' Hospital served the community until 1949 when a new hospital opened in Blairmore. The Miners' Hospital building is a one and one-half storey frame structure, originally with wood siding as the exterior finish. It is built on a T-shaped plan with a gable roof. Note the decorative bargeboards on the south gable. Changes from the original design include the addition of stucco and the closing in of the front porch and the sun room on the west side. The Hospital was designated a Provincial Historic Resource in November, 1986.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	1986/11/30

Register:	N/A

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0536