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The classically detailed Memorial Park Library stands within the heavily manicured gardens from which its name is taken. The intricate two-storey sandstone building, designed in the tenets of Edwardian Classicism, was the first major public library building in Alberta, and one of over 150 libraries built in Canada with money generously donated from Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Alexander Calhoun, who would become Calgary's first librarian, shared Carnegie's passion for education. According to HistoricPlaces.ca, Calhoun believed the building should reflect the importance of its function as a public place for learning, a so-called "temple of knowledge" that would go on to serve as an "intellectual counter balance" in wild-and-woolly Calgary. He collected funds from individual donors and amassed support for ongoing operational investments from the City, a condition attached to Carnegie's financial contribution.
The $100,000 Memorial Park Library opened its doors in 1912. Carnegie provided 80 percent of the project's cost and Calhoun's vision for a grand and statuesque symbol of education became a reality. A popular architectural choice among City leaders the world over, Edwardian Classicism exuded the permanence and monumentality that civic institutions had hoped to convey.
Their stature was only enhanced by the grounds upon which they stood. In this case, the enveloping Central Memorial Park captured the Victorian style with a symmetrical composition, highly groomed lawns, a variety of flora, and geometrical walking paths. Parks Superintendent Richard Iwerson initially drafted the design for the park, until his successor William Reader took over the reigns. Memorial statuary in the park would remind its visitors of the sacrifices made for the British Empire. On November 11, 1928, the park unveiled a cenotaph inscribed with "May we live as nobly as they died" and "Pass not in sorrow, but with pride."
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