Inglewood residents rally around former brewery

Inglewood residents who want to save buildings on the site of a former brewery from demolition plan to lobby city and provincial officials.

About 100 people attended a town hall meeting Thursday night, where organizers handed out addresses for MLAs, the mayor, and city alderman and urged them to press for a historic resource designation for the brewery.

"It was a major place in the city, so it's one of the original bones in the skeletal structure of the city," said Gian-Carlo Carra, president of Inglewood's community association. "And to completely just wipe it off the face of the map without an acknowledgement of its importance would be a remarkably shortsighted thing to do."

A Calgary developer's application to demolish a majority of the buildings on the former Molson brewery site in Inglewood is on hold while the province orders a historic resources impact assessment to study the site's heritage value and integrity.

Until the assessment for the province is completed, the city can't issue a demolition permit.

'Criminal act'

Donna Boomfield, who attended the Thursday night meeting, has lived in Calgary for six decades and remembers playing around the gardens and fishponds of the brewery.

"I think it will be a criminal act if in fact it is demolished," she said.

Judy Berghofer added that a compromise should be possible.

"I'm sure there's a way to save the most significant buildings, while still having a development around the site. So the owner gets what he wants and the historians and the community get what they want."

The City of Calgary lists the original Calgary Brewery, with some parts dating back to 1892, as one of the city's most significant heritage sites.

Provincial documents note the site's role in the early industrial development of the city and single out the varied architectural designs of the 16 structures. It also possesses heritage value for its association with prominent Calgary entrepreneur and politician A.E. Cross.

Much of the property has been closed since Molson closed its brewery in 1994. Because the site is privately owned, heritage status has no legal bearing in preventing a developer from razing buildings this summer that are more than 100 years.