Firm: J. A. Cawston

Address: 629 Hillcrest Avenue SW

Date of final plans: August 1956

Status: standing as built

Only a few years after King Houston built his first house on Hillcrest Avenue (see here), he purchased the empty lot across the street and hired Jack Cawston to design him a new house. The result was, in my estimation, one of the best mid-century houses in Calgary. The roof has an ultra-low 12/2 pitch giving the house an intimate, grounded feel embematic of mid-century design in general. On the front façade the garage and office include tall slit windows embedded in Manitoba limestone facing. The main floor has three bedrooms, a den, and a built-in garage.

Unfortunately, today the house doesn't present as well as it should. The garage is hidden behind a spruce tree and a garage addition has been built next to it, while the covered entrance has been closed in. Additionally, the house is now painted in a decided un-1950s grey-brown. Nevertheless, the Cawston design hasn't otherwise been tampered with.

Given this is one of only maybe a half-dozen Cawston houses that survive today – and one of the best among them – I can't understand why it isn't on the city's heritage register. As one of the finest surviving works by Calgary's foremost mid-century architect, this house really needs to be protected.