Calgary Jane’s Walk 2015

This past May, Karen Paul from the Britannia Community Association put together an excellent idea for a Jane’s Walk (the annual celebration of community and exploration, typically done on foot) which was examining 50s Modernism in the community of Britannia, which is just across Elbow Drive from Elboya, and asked us whether we would consider having the Trend House take part.

Britannia is an interesting community in that it was the last planned community created by the City of Calgary in the mid 1950s. It’s also the first community in Calgary to have all the utilities buried underground, giving residents an unobstructed view of the parklike setting in the area. Being the upscale neighbourhood that it is, all of the houses are uniquely designed and there are still a number of original mid-century modern houses standing, some of which were part of the tour.

When planning the tour we figured maybe we’d have a dozen or so people interested, so we planned to do a short talk outside the house on the programme in general and on some of the exterior examples of MCM design, and then move into the interior of the house for another short talk about the Calgary house and some of the interior details.

Came the day of the tour and closer to 120 people showed up so we had to improvise. We ended up doing both parts of the talk in the front yard, with people spilling off the sidewalks and into the street in front of the house, and then took everyone through the front of the house conga-line style for a glimpse of the interior.

It was a great experience, and the reaction from the people participating was overwhelmingly positive. There are a LOT of fans of Mid-Century Modernism out there in Calgary, and we are looking forward to doing what we can to help keep that interest alive.