Whitney Block in downtown Lethbridge designated a municipal historic resource

The Whitney Block, built in 1907, in downtown Lethbridge has received a historic designation.

A building in downtown Lethbridge has been designated as a municipal historic resource.

The three-storey Whitney Block on Third Avenue South has now become the 30^th municipal historic resource in the city.

After the new owner applied for historic designation, the historic places advisory committee worked with the owner on a mutually agreeable statement of significance, which sets out the heritage value of the property.

The Whitney Block was built in 1907 by David J. Whitney, a rancher of Ideal Farm.

Over time, the building has been home to a restaurant, upholstery shop, O’Riley’s Irish Pub – and one of the first queer theatres, Bordello and Theatre Outre.

The move to preserve the Whitney Block comes at the same time a historic Calgary theatre faces the prospect of closing its doors.

The board of the Grand, Western Canada’s first theatre, built in 1912 by former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed’s grandfather, said that theatre’s days may be numbered.