After three years behind scaffolding and a protective enclosure, Calgary’s historic city hall is set to be unveiled to the public in the coming weeks.
In October 2015, city council voted unanimously to approve the $34.1 million project. Work on the hall began in 2017 and has since been under wraps while crews worked through every season to repair and preserve the more than 15,000 sandstone pieces that make up the building’s exterior.
Now the city is ready to reveal the final product.
“What Calgarians will see when historic city hall is unwrapped is a refreshed, rejuvenated version of the familiar landmark that has graced Calgary for more than a century,” Calgary’s acting director of facility management Darrel Bell said.
“The work we’ve done on the sandstone over the last three years has been a labour of love and has restored our sandstone to a condition set to last for another hundred years.”
Officials said staff worked diligently to remove, clean and structurally fortify each piece of sandstone, as well as fit 2,400 additional stones to replace those that were beyond repair.
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Officials noted that the replacement sandstones were carefully selected to physically match the other stones that are more than a century old, however, added that slight color variations will be seen on the building until the newer stones begin to weather and lighten.
“When you view the building up close, you’ll notice that each sandstone block has its own subtle range of rich colour variations that are inherent to sandstone,” Bell said.
The removal of the building’s protective enclosure will be complete by the end of June, and Calgary’s historic city hall is expected to welcome tenants in September.
Officials noted that thanks to these preservations, the hall is ready to stand for another century.
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