YYC Walkabout: Cliff Bungalow / 4th Street / Mission
Richard White, July 23, 2014
We never get tired of exploring Calgary's 200+ neighbourhoods. Recently, we found ourselves wandering on and off 4th Street SW into the 100-year old neighbourhoods of Cliff Bungalow and Mission.
Cliff Bungalow (west of 4th Street from 17th Ave to the Elbow River) is a hidden oasis, it is like walking back in time with its century old homes, two early 20th century schools and lots of 100-year old trees. It is still dominated by single family homes which gives it the feel of an early 20th century prairie town.
Mission,(east of 4th Street) is the opposite, it is almost entirely apartments and condos of all shapes and sizes. It's big city urban atmosphere is the complete opposite of Cliff Bungalow, yet the two communities are only blocks away.
Cliff Bungalow school's inviting doors looks more like the front entrance to a home than to a school.
Not only is the school modest by today's standards, but so is the school's entire footprint- no huge playing fields, just a nice playground and small grass field. It fits into the community rather than "standing out." Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned - should elementary school sites should be smaller to fit into the community? Even the architecture resembles a home, rather than an institution, which must make it more inviting for young students.
How charming is the playground next to the Cliff Bungalow School? It was interesting to note that in our travels we saw lots of evidence that families do indeed live in the communities surrounding Calgary's downtown.
An example of one of the few remaining bungalows in Cliff Bungalow.
Most homes in Cliff Bungalow are actually two story homes with large inviting front porches that makes for great interaction with neighbours and pedestrians on the street.
Image homes with REAL river rock!
New low-rise condos for the young professionals in Mission are charming in their own way.
Luxury highrise condos for the empty nesters millionaires along the Elbow River.
Fun, Funky, Quirky
Every community needs a fun fence, they are most often found at daycares like this one. Note to self: do a photo essay on fun fences.
Quirky 4th Street shops....
Fun play on the Calgary Stampede's brand. I have done a couple of spin classes here and it is a bit like riding a bronc or maybe a bull - sore butt!
Funky characters in Cliff Bungalow.
Only in cowtown would you find a cow on the second floor balcony of a house. ( An Everyday Tourist Twitter follower has informed me this "Penny Cow" created out pennies by Calgary artist Bart Habermiller).
4th Street Flaneuring
Most people think of 4th Street as shops and restaurants, but there are also several mid-rise office buildings - like this mid-century modern building.
4th Street's newest 21st century office building.
Why don't all buildings include a name and the year they were built on their facades? Wouldn't that be an interesting way to add character to any building and street?
4th Street is quickly becoming Calgary's cafe headquarters with independents like Purple Perk and Phil & Sebastian.
Inspirati is just one of the many fun window licking spots along 4th Street.
How clever is this for a floral shop? Wander into the back alley garden and you find a hidden oasis that could be Monet's urban garden.
4th Street's sidewalk animation is enhanced by its many patios, with their lovely flowers.
Flaneuring Finds
The trunks of the 100-year old trees add character and charm to the streets of Cliff Bungalow.
We both loved the colourful patina on these bricks.
Early on in our walkabout we stumbled upon this charming retro playground with its own picnic table. In the 10 or so blocks we wandered we found three playgrounds located in well-treed pocket parks.
William Aberhart Park
Who knew there is a small pocket park in Mission named after William Aberhart - mid 200 block of 24th Ave SW. I did a little research when I got home and found out the Aberhart family house is not far away at 2505 5th St SW. - ironically in Cliff Bungalow.
William Aberhart, "Bible Bill," radio evangelist, premier of Alberta, 1935-43 (b in Hibbert Twp, Perth County, Ont 30 Dec 1878; d at Vancouver 23 May 1943). An important influence in religious sectarianism in western Canada, Aberhart headed the world's firstSOCIAL CREDIT government in 1935. He was trained as a school teacher at Mitchell Model School and the Normal School in Hamilton, Ontario. Wanting to become a Presbyterian minister, he began studying for an extramural BA from Queen's (completed 1911, after he had moved to Alberta) while he was principal of Central Public School in Brantford. In Ontario he became an active lay preacher and Bible-class teacher and was highly influenced by the Scofield Reference Bible and its dispensational system of interpretation.
In 1910 Aberhart moved to Calgary to become a school principal. His popular Bible class at Grace Presbyterian Church was transferred to Wesley Methodist Church in 1912 after he was embroiled in a dispute which probably involved both his theology and his personality. In 1915 he became the unofficial minister of Westbourne Baptist Church. In spite of attempts by Baptist leaders to remove Aberhart from the church, his congregation remained loyal. After a brief association with a Pentecostal minister in 1920, Aberhart began introducing "charismatic" practices and doctrines into the church, much to the consternation of the local Baptist ministers. He identified with the fundamentalist movement and became increasingly antagonistic to mainstream denominations.
Aberhart opened a school to train ministers and missionaries for the furtherance of fundamentalism. As early as 1923 he was teaching night-school classes in theology in the basement of Westbourne Baptist Church. He also realized the possibilities of radio and began broadcasting Sunday afternoon services in 1925. Needing a larger facility to house the Bible school and the crowds which were attracted to his meetings, he opened the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute in 1927 and taught many of its classes, administered the church and conducted the radio broadcasts while being employed as the principal of Crescent Heights High School. In 1929 Aberhart founded his own sect, the Bible Institute Baptist Church, after most of the Westbourne congregation had split from him. By 1939 over 9000 children were enrolled in his Radio Sunday School.
The GREAT DEPRESSION was devastating for the farm-based western economy and misery was widespread. The inability of political parties to find solutions to the problem of "poverty in the midst of plenty" drove Albertans to seek alternative remedies, and they were attracted to the ideas of Aberhart. Previously nonpolitical, in 1932 Aberhart became interested in the monetary-reform doctrines of a British engineer, Major C.H. Douglas, who believed that conventional capitalism would founder because private control of credit would lead to a chronic insufficiency of mass purchasing power. The solution, he believed, was state supervision of credit and the issuance of consumer discounts to balance consumption with full production. Aberhart modified and popularized this doctrine into a proposal that each citizen be given a $25-a-month "basic dividend" to purchase necessities. Aberhart built a grass-roots movement, the Alberta Social Credit League, to promote his ideas. When the existing political parties showed little interest, he took the league into the political arena. In September 1935, Social Credit took 56 of 63 seats in the Alberta legislature and swept the United Farmers of Alberta from office.
After becoming premier, Aberhart found he could not fulfil his pre-election promises. His moratorium on debt collections saved some farms and homes, but his concept of Social Credit was never realized. In 1937, after a major crisis in his caucus, he was forced to accept assistance from Major Douglas's emissaries from England. The monetary legislation they introduced was quickly disallowed by the federal government and precipitated the Rowell-Sirois Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations.
Aberhart died in office in 1943. He was succeeded by Ernest C.MANNING, the first graduate of the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute.
From the Canadian Encylopedia
The park includes a wonderful community garden.
I loved the small hills that separated the playground from the small open grass playing area. It is possible for the community's young adults to play on one side and young children to play on the other. I would love to see more use of picnic tables in parks ove as they invite people to face each other, talk and yes even have a picnic.
The Aberhart house at 2505 5th St SW is a Craftsman bungalow built in 1927 with its own park-like setting.
Last Word:
Unfortunately we didn't have our Harry Sanders' Historic Walks of Calgary book with us, as it would have made this walkabout much more informative. We will just have to come back with the book and do the walkabout right.