Balmoral Circus, the City Beautiful Movement, & Calgary’s Everyday Heritage
Written by Asia Walker, RPP MCIP
Heritage Resources & Research Coordinator
Heritage Calgary
Balmoral Circus (1934) at 0 19 AV NW. Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources.
Balmoral Circus is a circular greenspace in the NW Calgary communities of Mount Pleasant and Tuxedo Park, located at the intersection of 19 Avenue and 2 Street NW.
It was first conceived at the subdivision stage – a 1906 subdivision plan shows the circus as a traffic circle (as do subsequent fire insurance maps). There is speculation that the intersection was intended to be the turnaround location for future streetcars that would service the new northwest suburbs beginning in 1911; however, streetcars went north on Centre Street and west on 20th Avenue, and there is no evidence that streetcars ever accessed the Circus. A 1924 air photo does reveal early consideration of the circular design – one half of the circle design is completed on the west / Mount Pleasant side, but the east / Tuxedo Park side remains undeveloped.
1924 aerial image of the intersection of 19 Avenue and 2 Street NW. Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
“Circus” is a Latin word meaning ring, oval, or circle. The circle was a popular design feature historically incorporated into planning and architecture in the UK – famous, expansive Circuses include Piccadilly Circus in London, and the Circus (originally known as King’s Circus) in Bath, designed by the architect John Wood the Elder, dating back to the mid 18th Century.[i] Balmoral Circus is far more modest than its European counterparts. Totaling just over half an acre, the creative and cultivated landscaped area was developed by William Reader, Superintendent of the Calgary Parks Department, in 1934.
Balmoral Circus and surrounding neighbourhood. Google Maps, 2021.
Reader’s goal was to develop Calgary into a destination of the west. His vision of Calgary was as a great city with high quality open space, including public parks, recreation facilities, and streets lined with trees and developed with landscaped areas, planted with ornamental shrubs and flowers.
Reader adopted the City Beautiful movement to make his vision a reality. City Beautiful was a North American reform philosophy popular in American in the early 20th Century.[ii] Through architecture design and city planning, the movement promoted beauty not only for its own sake, but also to create moral and civic virtue among urban populations.[iii] While advocates of the philosophy believed that such beautification could promote a harmonious social order that would increase the quality of life, critics complained that the movement was overly concerned with aesthetics at the expense of social reform. Jane Jacobs was one such critic, and referred to the movement as an “architectural design cult”.[iv]
William Reader (far right) instructing the Prince of Wales (centre) while planting trees at the E.P. Ranch in the 1920s. Courtesy City of Calgary.
Reader implemented his vision through several large parks across the city, including Central Memorial Park and Riley Park, but he was keen on cultivating smaller greenspaces at the community level, for people of all social levels to enjoy. He took advantage of smaller locations by creating colourful floral displays with vibrant mixtures of annuals and perennials in those locations as well.
Balmoral Circus was one of these community-scale spaces. Historically, careful attention was given Balmoral circus as an ornamental area filled with colourful annuals. During the mid-to-late 1930s, when thorough records of the Circus were kept by William Reader, between 3,000 and 4,000 annuals were planted each year. By the end of the decade this number climbed to over 5,000 annuals.
Plan of Balmoral Circus showing horticultural landscaping. City of Calgary Archives.
There were two such Circuses in Calgary – Balmoral Circus on the boundary of Mount Pleasant and Tuxedo Park, and Beaumont Circus in Renfrew. Reader retired in 1942, and died the following year. While they were practically the same size, Beaumont Circus never had the intricate planting beds and associated herbaceous planting that Balmoral Circus did. Historical records show that Beaumont Circus did not reach the same level of horticultural intensity and attention that Balmoral Circus did. While Reader never had the opportunity to see Beaumont Circus grow into a landscaped masterpiece, it is clear his legacy continued at Balmoral – between 1945 and 1957 Annual Reports indicate that the city spent over $11,500.00 on maintenance and supplies for Balmoral Circus (compared to the $3,700.00 spent on Beaumont Circus).
Reader wanted to use refined landscaping and high-quality public spaces to show people Calgary was “a civilized city, inhabited by civilized people, where other civilized people would like to migrate”. This aspect of city planning and urban design included an expression of the Parks Superintendent’s views on who we were to the rest of the world.
Calgary is once again considering its place in the world and the kind of future we want, much as people were doing nearly 100 years ago. We are trying to demonstrate to the world the kind of city Calgary is and the kind of people we are. Calgary boasts over 10,000 hectares of parkland and natural areas, and over 1000 km of pathways. These amenities are things to cherish and be proud of – they will help attract businesses and their employees to Calgary, and help keep them here.
By investigating elements of our heritage that are not often in the spotlight – elements such as cultural landscapes, stories of historic people and events, or even organizations that have been around for over a century – we have an opportunity to share our heritage with people in a grounded, unassuming, and fun way. Interacting with the past on a regular basis helps us think beyond ourselves and our current problems. Integrating our heritage into our daily experiences will make our citizens richer and our city a more interesting, unique, attractive place.
Balmoral Circus may evolve to better reflect its historic setting. In doing so, the unique greenspace will provide a densifying neighbourhood a place of respite and a place to gather and meet with neighbours and strangers, but it will also infuse heritage and history into our daily lives. We may also be presented with an opportunity to consider the other aspects of Reader’s time. Does the City Beautiful movement have any place in our modern world? Should our greenspaces be so closely and meticulously cultivated by humans, or should nature be allowed to express itself more naturally? Our history is never just the story as presented to us – there’s always other facets of it to explore.
The closure of the Balmoral Circus intersection to vehicles continues as part of the City of Calgary North Hill Neighbourhood Streets project as a traffic calming pilot project. To learn more visit https://www.calgary.ca/transportation/tp/projects/current-planning-projects/neighbourhood-streets/neighbourhood-streets-northhill-communities-planning.html
If you have ideas or thoughts about integrating history into the evolution of Balmoral Circus, get in touch!
Sources:
[i] Jean Manco, The Hub of the Circus: A history of the streetscape of the Circus, Bath (Bath and North East Somerset Council 2004).
[ii] Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 103.
[iii] Daniel M. Bluestone, Columbia University, (September 1988).Detroit's City Beautiful and the Problem of Commerce Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. XLVII, No. 3, pp. 245-62.
[iv] Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House, 1961), p.375; quoted in Rybczynski, Witold. City Life: Urban Expectations in a New World New York: Scribner, 1995. p.27. ISBN 0-684-81302-5.
Asia Walker is the Heritage Resources and Research Coordinator of Heritage Calgary. She holds a Master of Planning degree from the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design (EVDS) and a BA (Hons) in English, also from the University of Calgary. Asia’s interests lie at the intersection of heritage preservation and modern development, urban design, social infrastructure, and storytelling. She strives to lay a foundation for the exploration of all forms of heritage – our buildings, our landscapes, our ancestors, and our traditions. Previously, Asia has worked at B&A Planning Group, the Town of Banff, and as an independent planning and engagement consultant for the Lougheed House, a National Historic Site. She serves as the Co-Chair for the Mount Pleasant Planning Committee and volunteers with Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Calgary. Elsewhere, Asia is a local actor, a sommelier-in-training, an avid traveller, and cycling aficionado. As a fourth generation Albertan she pledges allegiance to the mountains over the prairies, but holds space for both in her heart.