City planners are hoping to produce a new design this year for a leafy, historic inner-city neighbourhood that is one of Calgary’s little-known gems.

Mission was once scheduled to be the nesting grounds of building cranes, but things didn’t work out that way.

Architects were asked to think outside the box in coming up with ideas for the Mission district. The concepts pictured are from Heather Hiscock, of Latimer Hiscock.

City planner Jack Scissons says Mission is the quarter-section of land granted to Catholic missionary Father Lacombe by the federal government for mission purposes in the 19th century. It was the Village of Rouleauville before it was annexed by Calgary early in the 20th century. There are 12 to 15 heritage sites in the neighbourhood, three or four official and the rest potential.

The map of the community shows institutions by the river, including St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sacred Heart Convent, the old St. Mary’s girls’ school and Holy Cross Hospital. Commercial uses line 17th Avenue and 4th Street, the northern and western boundaries of Mission.

The southern and eastern boundaries are the Elbow River. A residential area covers the south end of the neighbourhood.

Scissons says the 1982 plan for the area would have seen old houses demolished for apartment construction. But oil prices fell and the development never took place.

Illustrations coutesy of Latimer Hiscock Architects and Linear Projects Inc.


The city’s thinking has since evolved to sensitive redevelopment of inner-city districts. There are competing desires between preserving the character of the neighbourhood and building apartments to the density allowed.

All of the views are valid, says Scissons. Everyone will have to give up things in the planning process, including the city. Several architects were asked to think outside the box in developing possible housing concepts, and the ideas were rolled out last week at the Cliff Bungalow-Mission Community Association.

Bob Lang, past president of the community association, says some of the ideas could save the streetscape by putting development behind existing structures. It has been done in other cities and could work here, but development rules would have to change.

He stressed that because the architects were asked to stretch their thinking, the ideas are just suggestions, not proposed developments.

Architect Gerald Forseth suggested preserving some existing houses and renovating them at one apartment per floor. He would add new buildings on the back alleys with four or five units, “a taller building on its side.” This would create an address on the laneway between addresses on the avenues. The lane would continue as a lane, making the housing a mews. Parking for the new housing would be in the existing backyards, plus underground beneath the alley.

“I was trying to do architecture that was new and contemporary and reflects the area,” Forseth told the gathering.

He said the concept, if built, might appeal to a home office-using, young, single professional group – the sort of people who would use the 4th Street commercial, entertainment and shopping amenities and be part of downtown urban life.

At one to 1.5 parking stalls per unit, any parking not used by the residences could help out the commercial area.

Cameron Gillies of Sturgess Architecture examined a range of ideas. One calls for a developer to buy six houses, three on each side of an alley, and put in a courtyard apartment building. Another would simply add a loft dwelling over an existing garage.

The courtyard apartments would have underground parking while a set of live-work units would use garages on the main level.

David Down of Down & Livesey took preserving older houses as a given and produced plans for lot-by-lot redevelopment with houses on the lanes and six-metre separation from the existing houses. The intensity could range from a studio apartment above a garage to a full three- or four-storey building, and the units could be rentals or condos.

Heather Hiscock of Latimer Hiscock presented a courtyard development built around the rear yards of existing houses. It could occur on one site or be phased.

Her suggestion could build out with loft apartments, row housing and live-work units with two storeys of dwelling above the office.

The build-out would keep the scale of building, but put more units on each site.

It would also maintain socioeconomic diversity, she said.

The suggestions will be on view again at a public open house Feb. 13 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Cliff Bungalow-Mission Community Hall, 2201 Cliff St. S.W.

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Office condos and retail shops are planned for a site in Mission on the busy 4th Street S.W. commercial strip.

Hannes Kovac, marketing director of Opus Building Corp., says the project at 2412 4th St. S.W. will have retail on the main floor and two storeys of offices above. The office levels will step back so the building will look like the boutiques, preserving the streetscape. The offices will be condominiums. Both office levels will have balconies.

Heated underground parking will be available at 2.5 stalls per thousand square feet.

Kovac said the retail portion is leased and half the offices are under offer.