‘A record of Calgary’s culture’: Designer, family leading charge to preserve city’s heritage homes

As the city grows and builds more much-needed homes, some are doing their best to make sure Calgary's important history isn't knocked down.

A Calgary designer is sharing his heritage house remodelling success story with others in hopes more homeowners follow his lead.

Matthew Kennedy bought a Parkdale house constructed in 1913 when it was 105 years old.

“We got a good deal on the house,” he said, “but part of that deal was that we would designate it as a heritage resource.

“The previous owners loved the home and didn’t want to see it destroyed.”

Over the past seven years, Kennedy and his family have redesigned and remodelled the property in an effort to preserve “what’s special about it.”

“Everything from the floorboards to the counters,” he said.

“It just (needed) some love and attention, but once it’s done, it’s going to be here for another hundred years.”

He’s now pushing other Calgarians who live in pre-1945 builds to look into getting heritage designation.

“These homes are kind of a record of Calgary’s culture, and the fact that they’re getting torn down so quickly makes these houses even more important,” he said.

The city has identified more than 4,000 homes as potential heritage assets, but only about a quarter of those are officially listed on the Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources.

Homes that are “recognized for their historical and architectural significance and are often subject to preservation guidelines,” according to Heritage Calgary.

The organization would love to see more people self-nominate their property to protect it.

“I think a lot of property owners feel that designation is very restrictive as to what they can do, and that’s one of the barriers,” said Cynthia Klaassen, Heritage Calgary’s heritage resource program manager.

“But that’s not the case. There are rules, (but) we’re not telling you to do anything specific.”

And there are perks to the designation.

Kennedy has fully taken advantage.

“One of the incentives is to receive grant funding from the city,” Klaassen said.

“It is matching funding, so you have to make your own financial commitments, but the city will help you with that. And recently, the city has introduced a two-year pilot program to forgive 15 per cent of property taxes for designated properties.”

There’s also provincial funding up for grabs.

And Calgarians have taken an interest.

Klaassen says more than 115 homes were designated, 2023-24, and halfway through 2025, there have already been 40 properties added to the list.

“The first step to designation is nominating a property for the inventory, which you can do through the Heritage Calgary website,” she said.

“Then we take a look at it and determine if it qualifies. If it does, we pay for the research to get it all done. Then the next step is to request designation through the city, and that has to be done by the property owner.“

Vibrant Communities Calgary, a non-profit that fights for those living near or below the poverty line, says the benefits go beyond preservation.

Michelle James, director of policy at Vibrant Communities Calgary, believes that while density is important, a sense of community is further fostered when residents look to what they already have.

“People living and thriving in connected neighbourhoods is really important for health, for their well-being, just for their general vibrancy,” she told CTV News.

“Moving can disconnect people from things and services they access. So we really do advocate for people to have less social isolation and better socioeconomic outcomes.”

To learn more, visit Heritage Calgary’s website.