Constructed in 1905, with a mid century two storey addition, the Club Carousel building is symbolic of the historic block-long pedestrian-scaled commercial streetscapes that were established along Calgary's downtown Beltline streetcar system in the pre-World War One era, and has continued to be an integral component along 1 ST SW. The Beltline community takes its name from the Blue Line streetcar that was established in 1909. The Beltline streetcar, known also as Trolley No. 5 was the first and central loop connecting the Beltline with the downtown. It started in the downtown at Centre ST and 8 AV SW and continued westerly turning south along 8 ST SW then onto 12 AV SW to 14 ST SW before heading south to 17 ST where it turned east and then north onto 1 ST SW to return to back 8 AV SW. Typical of the development of small-scale neighbourhood storefronts was its location along a streetcar line. The Club Carousel building was one of the earliest buildings constructed on the 1200 block and established 1 ST SW as a commercial main street south of the downtown commercial core along with the Aull Block #1 and #2.
The Depression Coffee House was founded by John Uren from Toronto in 1963 in the basement of the building. At that time Calgary had a reputation of lacking culture, which inspired John Uren's vision to establish the Depression Coffee House for chess, poetry, folk music, and other performances by local musicians.,. The coffee house was the first one in Calgary and established the city's folk music scene, launching Joni Mitchell's music career in 1963. Joni Mitchell (Joni Anderson at that time), a young Calgary art student, was the club's opening night act and, John Uren became known as the grandfather of folk music in Calgary through the coffee house's success.
In October 1969, the building supported the city's first chartered private gay members club which represents an important milestone in Calgary's gay community history. Opened in October 1969 at 1207-1 ST SW a basement gay club was formed with a grand opening of 300 people.
After opening, challenges getting a business licence and the club's original owner allowing non-members to attend resulted in members boycotting the basement club. An executive committee was formed, and donations were solicited to establish a non-profit charitable society, the Scarth Street Society (the historic name of 1 St SW) to mitigate police pressure and license challenges. The Society took over the lease of the basement space and in In March 1970, the club executive committee, with a Theatre Calgary set designer, prepared the space to reopen as Club Carousel.
The Club Carousel community donated surplus proceeds to charities and supported social activities outside the club. As an established non-profit club, the basement of the 1207 became too small and the Club Carousel moved to the Sidorsky's Furniture Store at 16 Avenue and Centre Street N in 1972. Due to declining membership and commercial gay bar competition the club closed its doors in March 1978.
Lois Szabo is the only surviving member of the Scarth Street Society executive committee and remains a leader in Calgary's 2SLGBTQIA+ community. In addition to establishing Club Carousel, Lois also attended the first Calgary Pride Parade in 1991, and as a result of the trail she and her friends blazed, Pride has become an annual celebration in Calgary.
The Club Carousel building is a modest Commercial-style building that has been altered over the years from its original multi-unit commercial storefront to a single use. The one-storey, flat roof, small-scale design is typical of those constructed in the early 20th century through a continued pedestrian-scaled one storey storefront façade. The form, scale, and massing of the building with a two-storey back of building achieves a valued pedestrian-scale along 1 ST SW and continues to meet the needs of adaptive re-use of the building over the years including a fully developed basement. The two-storey portion of the building provides large rectangular windows on the upper floor.
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