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Hart House (Calgary)

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This article is about the building in Alberta. For the building in Toronto, see Hart House (University of Toronto).

51°03′43″N 114°10′08″W / 51.062008°N 114.168982°W / 51.062008; -114.168982

Hart House
The Hart House overlooking Calgary
Map
Former namesVarsity Heights
Crandell House
Alternative namesHart Mansion
Crandell-Hart House
General information
StatusProtected, used as a hotel
TypeMansion[1]
Architectural styleVictorian[2] and Edwardian[3]
Address435 Patina Place SW[3]
Town or cityCalgary, Alberta
CountryCanada
Completed1905

The Hart House, sometimes known as the Hart mansion,[4] is a residence located in the Patterson Heights neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Once owned by Stu Hart, it was home to his extensive professional wrestling family for 52 years from October 1951 until Stu Hart's death in October 2003. While not built for them nor any longer under ownership of the Harts, the mansion continues to be referred to as the Hart House.[5]

During the ownership of the Hart family the mansion's basement was used as a training hall and wrestling school known as the Hart Dungeon, which produced many successful pro wrestlers.[6] Besides the Hart family the mansion also housed many other wrestlers as well as an abundance of family pets and circus animals which were sometimes used in the Stampede Wrestling shows.[7][8][9]

The building has a large historical value for the wrestling industry and WWE recognized it as being as important and significant as Madison Square Garden.[10] In 2012 the building was declared a heritage site by the city of Calgary.[11][12][13]

History edit

Early history edit

 
The Hart mansion at its inauguration as a Red Cross children's home
 
The mansion in 1920

The 5,600-square-foot (520 m2) home, sitting on 2.17 acres (0.88 ha) of land, was built in 1905 by businessman Edward Crandell.[14][15] It was converted into the Soldiers' Children's Home for Orphans in 1920 and then bought by Judge Henry Stuart Patterson from the Crandells. According to Henry Patterson's youngest son, Arthur Patterson (1924–2018), the orphanage ran out of money and abandoned the house. The vacant mansion was severely damaged by years of rain that poured in through broken windows.[citation needed]

The Patterson family saved the house from further destruction and invested substantially in restoring it. The original, high quality workmanship of the historic home was intentionally respected during renovations. In particular, Arthur Patterson spoke of the heavily damaged hardwood floors made with such workmanship that the British tradesman who restored the flooring wept as he worked, saying he hadn't seen such quality since leaving England.[citation needed]

The reason the mansion stood alone on its hill overlooking Calgary for so many decades, according to Arthur Patterson, is that no others were willing to drill water wells as deep as Edward Crandell had. Neighboring lands were occasionally purchased and abandoned for the difficulty obtaining water.[citation needed]

Under Hart ownership edit

It was sold to Stu Hart in October 1951 for $25,000, with Stu, his wife Helen, and their young sons Bruce and Keith moving into the Hart House from their old address in Great Falls, Montana. Stu later collected their eldest son, Smith, from Helen's parents' house in New York, where he had been living with his maternal grandparents for over two years since a 1949 car crash that had resulted in Helen being hospitalized while she was pregnant with Bruce. Stu and Helen went on to have another nine children during their residence at the Hart House; Wayne, Dean, Ellie, Georgia, Bret, Alison, Ross, Diana and Owen, with Bret and Owen going on to achieve huge fame in professional wrestling, in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

In its Hart-owned state, the mansion featured twenty-two rooms, four fireplaces, five chandeliers from Edmonton's historic McDonald Hotel, two porches, a view of downtown Calgary, and a coach house[16][17] behind the main house which was joined to the main house through a greenhouse.[18][19] Calgary artist Katie Ohe rented the coach house from the Harts and lived there for a time.[20]

2003 sale edit

After the death of Stu Hart on October 16, 2003, the majority of his ten surviving children agreed to put the Hart House up for sale. Alison Hart gave several tours of the home to guests before finally handing down ownership of the $2 million home.[citation needed]

After edit

In June 2006, preservation plans for the mansion were defused in a tied 7-7 vote, leaving it susceptible to demolition. In October, however, a revised plan was authorized for thirteen townhouses to be built around the mansion as well as its restoration.[21][22] In 2008 Ross Hart spoke of his wish for the building to get renovated but preserved in its original form.[23] Construction was stated to begin in summer 2007, but these plans were never implemented. Although the property went up for sale again in spring 2010,[24] it was not sold. In December 2012, it was designated as a municipal heritage site by the City of Calgary as part of a development deal which also allowed the owner to build nine houses with secondary suites on the Hart House's undeveloped grounds.[25][11]

After being renovated in 2013 the house was put out for renting, the renovated building includes a modern security system, a gourmet kitchen, a library, a home office, a gym, family rooms and six bedrooms.[26][27]

The Dungeon edit

Main article: Hart Dungeon

The Hart Dungeon was the gym and training school used by Stu Hart and some of his sons to train wrestlers and other athletes which was located in the mansion's basement.[citation needed]

Accolades edit

References edit

  1. ^ http://www.avenuecalgary.com/December-2010/A-Hart-House-Christmas/ https://archive.today/20180130220411/http://www.avenuecalgary.com/December-2010/A-Hart-House-Christmas/
  2. ^ Marshall, Andy (2016). Thin Power: How former Calgary Mayor Rod Sykes stamped his brand on the city . . . And scorched some sacred cows. FriesenPress. ISBN 9781460283974.
  3. ^ a b "The City of Calgary". Calgary.ca. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  4. ^ Marsha Erb (2002). Stu Hart: Lord of the Ring. ECW Press. p. 17 pp. ISBN 1-55022-508-1.
  5. ^ Johnson, Mike (January 10, 2013). "HART FAMILY LAUNCHES NEW PROMOTION, LIVE IN THE OLD HART HOUSE AND MORE NEWS". pwinsider.com. Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  6. ^ Logan, Shawn (April 26, 2008). "Taking falls in the New Hart Dungeon". SLAM! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  7. ^ Marsha Erb (2002). Stu Hart: Lord of the Ring. ECW Press. p. 8 pp. ISBN 1-55022-508-1.
  8. ^ Mooneyham, Mike (April 29, 2012). "WWE diva Natalya: Pretty in pink but red hot in the ring". The Post and Courier. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  9. ^ Hart, Bret (April 17, 2004). "Positive heroes key for kids". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved July 21, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ^ "Stu Hart's Hall of Fame profile". WWE.com. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
  11. ^ a b "Calgary's Hart House to be declared a heritage site". CBC News. December 3, 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
  12. ^ Gandia, Renato (December 3, 2012). "Calgary's famous Hart House to be declared a heritage site". Calgary Sun. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  13. ^ Zickefoose, Sherri (April 11, 2013). "House and Hound rebuffed". Calgary Herald. Retrieved July 21, 2018 – via PressReader.
  14. ^ Marsha Erb (2002). Stu Hart: Lord of the Ring. ECW Press. p. 107 pp. ISBN 1-55022-508-1.
  15. ^ "Hart House down for the count - CBC News". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  16. ^ "The Life and Legacy of Katie Ohe and Harry Kiyooka". Avenuecalgary.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  17. ^ "The Life and Legacy of Katie Ohe and Harry Kiyooka". Archive.today. 30 January 2018. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  18. ^ Berger, Richard (2010). A Fool for Old School ... Wrestling, That is. Richard Berger & Barking Spider Productions. p. 59 pp. ISBN 978-0981249803.
  19. ^ Marsha Erb (2002). Stu Hart: Lord of the Ring. ECW Press. p. 106 pp. ISBN 1-55022-508-1.
  20. ^ [1]
  21. ^ Johnson, Mike (October 17, 2006). "CONSTRUCTION APPROVED FOR HART FAMILY PROPERTY, NEW BOOK CHRONICLES RISE OF THE NWA, TERRY GORDY TRIBUTE SONG & MORE". PWInsider.com. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  22. ^ Logan, Shawn (October 17, 2006). "Calgary OKs Hart mansion condo project". Slam! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  23. ^ Leung, Terence (July 19, 2008). "City moves to protect more of its history". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 2017-12-19 – via PressReader.
  24. ^ "Hart mansion goes back on the block". CBC News. May 14, 2010. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
  25. ^ Markusoff, Jason (December 4, 2012). "City council allows development around Hart house". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
  26. ^ "Hart House For Rent In Calgary At $10,000 A Month". huffingtonpost.ca. The Huffington Post. October 10, 2013. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  27. ^ "Hart Family Launches New Promotion, Mansion Up For Rent - 411MANIA". 411mania.com. 12 August 2017. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  28. ^ "Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame". Slam! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. April 3, 2016.

External links edit

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