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| The Top 10 Skyscrapers in Calgary |
1. Petro-Canada Center
The Center holds the record to being the tallest tower not only in Calgary but also in Canada except Toronto, of course. Located at 150 6th Avenue SW, the Petro- Canada Center stands 215 meters tall sitting on a total of 1,945,000 square foot of space. The project, which was completed in 1984, consists of two glass towers with 32 and 53 floors each.
The Petro-Canada Center has 158 thousand square meter of office space for rent as well as 243 thousand square feet area allotted for retail as well as underground parking. What makes this tower a sight for tourists aside from the twin towers is the walkway, enclosed in glass and providing better access to the adjacent buildings.
Among the major tenants of the towers are Petro-Canada, Weatherford Canada, Precision Drilling Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Direct Energy and Bell West.
2. Bankers Hall-East
3. Bankers Hall-West
Just like Petro-Canada, Bankers Hall boasts of twin towers 197 meters high with 52 floors. Bankers Hall –West is located at 888 3rd Streets SW while Bankers-Hall East can be found along 855 2nd Street SW. Bankers Hall East and West were designed by Cohos Evamy and were completed in 1989 and year 200 respectively.
Both Bankers Hall East and West boast of podiums with a retail gallery leading to other buildings through the use of the Plus 15 skywalk. The skywalk network connects Banker Halls to Hollingsworth Building which holds a very important role in Calgary’s history,
4. Canterra Tower
Canterra Tower, which was completed in 1988, is an office tower made of glass and located along 400 3rd Avenue SW. The Tower stands at a towering high of 177 meters with a total of 45 floors. This high rise was designed by WZHM Architects which also designed the famous Scotia Plaza in Toronto.
5. TransCanada Tower
The TransCanada Tower was named as such because it is the location of the TransCanada Corporation head offices. It is located along 450 1st Street SW and designed by the same architecture firm that designed Bankers Hall. All of the 581 feet of this Tower was distributed to about 38 floors.
6. First Canadian Center
The First Canadian Centre is a tower that offers office space for Calgary’s business sector particularly the Bank of Montreal which occupies a large portion of the Center’s ground floor. It is 547 feet tall with 41 floors and was designed by the architectural firm Bregman + Hamann.
This high rise was supposed to be the first tower of a two-tower high rise with the other tower consisting of 64 floors. However the economic bust in the early 1980s caused the demise of the plan to build another tower.
7. Western Canadian Place-North
Western Canadian Place North is more popularly known as the head office of Husky Energy a well-known oil company based in Calgary. This high rise, which is 538 feet high, can be found along 707 8th Avenue SW. It actually consists of two towers, the North with 41 floors and the South measuring 420 feet tall with 32 floors.
Construction of this complex was completed in 1983.but it was bought by GWL Realty Advisors in 2004 at a price of $230,675,000.
8. TD Canada Trust Tower
The Canada Trust Tower is an office complex that can be found along 421 7th Avenue SW. The tower is made up of 40 floors measuring 162 meters. The designer of the tower, which was completed in 1991, is WZMG Architects
This office complex is home to the TD Canada Trust, Holt Renfrew and EnCana Corporation. The site still shows the walls of the former Eaton Calgary which used to locate at the tower from 1929 to early 1980s.
9. Scotia Center
Scotia Center is also an office location and it can be found along 700 2nd Street SW. Measuring 509 feet, the complex has a total of 41 floors and once held the record of being Calgary’s tallest structure.
Construction of the Center was concluded in1976 and to date still has Scotiabank as its original and major tenants. The complex boasts of a restaurant overlooking downtown Calgary.
10. Nexen Building
Nexen Building can be found along 801 7th Avenue SW in downtown Calgary. It consists of 37 floors measuring 499 feet. It was named after the energy firm Nexen, the major occupant of the building.
Constructed of this office complex was concluded in 1982 and its designer was CPV Group Architects.
Calgary’s booming high rise construction sector may be given a boost with Imperial Oil’s plan to build a 60-storey tower that would beat the record of Petro-Canada. Calgarians are however unsure whether the proposal would be the best thing for their city right now.
The 190 meter Calgary Tower which amounted to 3.5 million Canadian Dollars when it was completed in 1969 is said to be another landmark in Calgary. This was a joint project of Husky Oil and Marathon Realty Company for Canada’s Centennial celebration.
It was considered the tallest structure in Canada at the time it was completed but the record was taken away by the Toronto-Dominion Centre even before it opened to the public.
While it has been replaced as the tallest tower in Canada it has however maintained its place in the history of Canada as the building which housed a cauldron fired by natural gas during the Winter Olympics in 1988. The same cauldron is still being lit during special occasions including the Alberta Centennial and the 1989 Calgary Flames Stanley Cup Victory. The continuous burning of the flame every hour requires the use of natural gas of about 850 cubic meters.
Tourists should not leave Calgary without even visiting the tower’s rotating restaurant giving diners a panoramic view of the Calgary downtown area. The tower is accessible to and from the surrounding building as it is connected to the + 15 skyway network.
Another high rise development that is expected to put Calgary on the world map is the 1.7 million square feet proposed headquarters for the EnCana Corporation. The new tower which has been referred to as “The Bow” is expected to consist of two or more towers with one of the towers consisting of 60 stories.
There are, however, unconfirmed reports that the high rise would just consist of a single tower that would consist of 70 floors. The project proponents however said the tower will have 59 floors but will incorporate the already existing York Hotel. Seven floors will however be added to the existing York structure.
Matthews Southwest, a Texas-based management company, has been chosen for the project along with architectural firm Foster and Partners who released the towers’ initial designs October last year. The project is aptly called as such because it is shaped like a crescent and one can view the Bow River from the location.
The Bow will be a major hub for EnCana and is projected to house all of its employees in Calgary. Once completed it is expected to be Canada’s tallest building thereby dislodging the record of Canada Trust Tower of Toronto. Moreover it is expected to be labeled as the world’s 107th tallest structure.
The office high rise will be a big boost to Calgary’s economy with costs expected to reach a billion Canadian dollar or more. The construction of “The Bow” will start this year and will be completed by the year 2010.
It will also house two floors for retail measuring 18,580 square meters, three floors for sky gardens and lobbies, 53 floors for offices measuring 157,930 square meters and a six-level parkade with1,400 stalls for parking.
What makes Calgary’s skyscrapers unique and convenient is the fact that they are accessible to adjacent buildings due to an extensive and well-thought of skyway network. A skyway is covered footbridge of path that can be traversed without touching the ground. This can be convenient for people as they can walk from one location to another without getting rained on or experiencing the scorching heat of the sun.
Calgary’s 16 kilometer walkway, which connects more than a hundred office towers, is considered the largest system in the world.
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