CALGARY ASSOCIATE CLINIC

Firm: Stevenson Raines Barrett Hutton Seton and Partners

Address: 214 6 Avenue SW

Date of final plans: December 1966

Status: demolished ca. 1983

The Calgary Associate Clinic was founded in 1922. Originally the clinic occupied a house on 6th Avenue. Over the ensuing decades, the clinic buildings expanded gradually and haphazardly. In 1966, the doctors constructed a new brutalist building at the front of the property. The building was 100' wide and around 56' deep. It was four storeys and plans were made to expand to eight. However, the expansion was never built. The irregular window pattern was not architectural, but was rather determined by the layout of individual clinic rooms.

The block on which the clinic was built was acquired around 1967 for the construction of Bow Valley Square. The clinic remained standing throughout the construction of the four BVS towers. For a short time, it was sandwiched between BVS1 and BVS4 (see final photo), but was torn down shortly after the complex was completed.

Although it's an interesting work of modern art, one has to question whether this sort of building is suitable for a medical clinic. Even brutalism's staunchest advocates would admit that it's a severe and often cold style. For an activity such as medicine, which should attempt to cultivate an atmosphere of comfort and calm, brutalism hardly seems like a fitting architectural style.