page_title: Downtown East Village, Calgary
section_title: Historic Buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Downtown East Village, Calgary / Area Redevelopment / Historic Buildings
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Louis Hotel Calgary, source: http://www.evexperience.com
context_page_description: Downtown East Village more commonly known as simply East Village, is a mixed-use neighbourhood within the eastern portions of downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is contained within the city's Rivers District. Containing the earliest-settled land in the Calgary area - Fort Calgary - East Village was for years a mixture of high-rise residential, commercial, and industrial development. Much of the parkland currently surrounding Fort Calgary was industrial as recently as the 1960s. Construction of the city's light rail transit Blue Line, coupled with the closure of 8th Avenue at Macleod Trail in the early 1980s by construction of the massive Calgary Municipal Building, resulted in East Village being "cut off," figuratively speaking, from the rest of downtown. As a result, it became home to many rundown properties and vacant lots over the years, and a severe crime problem.
  Plans to reshape this neighbourhood were approved by Calgary City Council in March, 2005.
context_section_description: East Village plays host to several of Calgary's oldest buildings. The Simmons Mattress Factory building has been redeveloped to house Charbar, Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters, and Sidewalk Citizen Bakery, and is right along the RiverWalk. The city's oldest running hotel, the King Edward Hotel, built in 1905 has been deconstructed and rebuilt as part of the National Music Centre. The St. Louis Hotel has been revitalized and now hosts the headquarters of Calgary Municipal Land Corporation and a rental venue. The Hillier Block has been restored and is now home to the Calgary Public Library Foundation, ADD-IN, and the New Central Library Discovery Centre for the duration of the NCL construction project happening next door.
caption: St. Louis Hotel Calgary after revitalization