Calgary’s historic Hudson’s Bay building at risk, says national charity

Pedestrians pass the Hudson's Bay building in downtown Calgary, Alta., Thursday, March 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

A national charity dedicated to the conservation of Canada’s historic places has added another 10 locations to its list of heritage places at risk.

Calgary’s downtown Hudson’s Bay building, completed in 1913, is among the new entrants on the list released by the National Trust of Canada on Wednesday.

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The six-storey Edwardian Classical landmark on Stephen Avenue, designed by Toronto firm Burke, Horwood and White, was further expanded in 1930 and again in 1958.

“It features Chicago Commercial-style massing, rare cream-glazed terracotta cladding, granite columns, and a sweeping colonnade — making it a showpiece of early 20th-century department store design and Calgary’s first large-scale commercial concrete structure,” the organization said on its website.

The charity says the recent collapse of the company has put the building, along with many other landmark Bay structures, at risk.

“Now vacant, the future of the Calgary Bay Building is uncertain,” the charity said.

“The Hudson’s Bay Company has announced the closure of nearly all its remaining stores across Canada.”

In August, the Calgary Downtown Association said that no one had come forward to cover the maintenance costs for the building, which it believes are mounting the longer the structure sits vacant.

Experts do not expect a large retailer to set up shop in the space, and other factors such as online shopping and market conditions have made it even more difficult for companies to step up.

Meanwhile, the National Trust of Canada says other former Bay buildings, including in Winnipeg, are finding new life as housing and cultural hubs.

In September, Hudson’s Bay signaled interest in auctioning some historic documents related to the trading company, including its charter, written in 1670.

The company also said it has 1,700 pieces of art and more than 2,700 artifacts it intends to sell.

The National Trust of Canada says “despite its architectural merit and deep social legacy” there is no protection for the Calgary Bay building through a heritage designation.

Without that, the charity says the building could be subject to demolition and redevelopment at any time.

National Trust of Canada’s new listings in 2025

• 24 Sussex Drive (Ottawa) — vacant, with no plan for its future;
• Hudson’s Bay Building (Calgary) — faces an uncertain future as the historic company goes bankrupt;
• Dr. Martin Murphy House (Halifax) — challenged to access insurance;
• Claybank Brick Plant (Claybank, Sask.) — falling deeper into disrepair;
• 500 Lot Area (Charlottetown) — left vulnerable by weak bylaws;
• Peck Building (Winnipeg) — made fragile by prolonged vacancy;
• Saint Joseph d’Alma Church (Alma, Que.) — Quebec’s historic churches face a crisis as provincial funding recedes;
• Pascal Poirier House (Shediac, N.B.) — never re-opened after COVID;
• Sisters of the Visitation Convent (Ottawa) — vacant and crumbling; and
• Spruce Avenue School (Edmonton) — faces demolition despite local opposition.

Click here for more about these endangered places.