Photographer races against time to document her grandfather’s work
Architect Joseph K. English designed commercial buildings across West
Calgarians who skied in the late 1960s will fondly recall the pointed peaks of what was then called Snowridge Lodge in Kananaskis Country.
With the iconic building now slated for demolition, a Torontobased photographer has set out to document it and other projects at risk designed by her grandfather.
Kiely Ramos has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help her travel to Alberta to research and photograph Joseph K. English’s mid- century, modernist buildings while they’re still standing. So far she has raised close to $5,000 of her $15,000 goal.
“I would be happy if a few more people knew the name J.K. English and discovered some of the really innovative buildings that he designed. If this project can have a bigger impact, by bringing about a greater appreciation for these buildings and why they are important historically, then all the better.”
Some of English’s better-known designs include the Scandinavian Centre in Calgary, the Snowridge turned Fortress lodge and St. Pius X Church in Edmonton, all built in the 1950s and ’60s.
His specialty was a hyperbolic paraboloid roof — the same style used in the Scotiabank Saddledome.
St. Pius X Church was closed and put up for sale in 2012 and its fate remains uncertain. Fortress lodge was slated for demolition following a redevelopment plan for the resort. English’s St. Joseph Seminary in Edmonton was torn down in 2009.
That same year, Ramos took her grandfather to revisit some of his work and she began recording his stories.
“I think he was very happy to have that chance to see some of his buildings just one more time ... Unfortunately, about six months later, my grandfather died.”
Ramos carried on, tracking down archival material and photographing about 30 buildings. She hopes to locate and photograph the rest and create a website dedicated to his work. There’s a bit of an urgency as at least two buildings have been torn down since she began.
“At first I thought I’d put together a nice little book for my family, a memento. Along the way, as I realized some of the buildings were disappearing, it turned into something more.”
“This ... is important to me on a personal level because it’s about finishing something that I started with my grandfather and it’s about his legacy.”
Born in Calgary in 1923, English served in the Second World War as a Lancaster bomber pilot with Squadron 625.
After the war, he studied architecture in Manitoba. He started his practice in Alberta in 1954 and went on to design elementary schools, churches, community centres, civic buildings and residences in Calgary and Edmonton and rural communities in western Canada. When he semi-retired, English and his wife Claire moved to Nanton where they started an art gallery and framing business. He died in January 2010.
The crowdfunding campaign runs until March 16.