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The three-storey McDougall Centre at 455 6 Street SW started its life as the home of Alberta's first normal school, educational institutions that facilitated training for teachers. Built in 1908, the building was one of the earliest major civic structures to be constructed in Alberta, and was the only normal school in the province until a second establishment opened in Camrose in 1912.
With Edmonton being named the provincial capital, and the provincial university setting up in Strathcona, Calgary was bestowed the normal school as a compensatory measure. It also made sense from a demographic point of view — Calgary's student population had exploded 116 percent between 1900 and 1906. When the normal school entered service, it did so with two instructors and 26 student teachers hailing from every province in the country, with some even coming from the United States and the United Kingdom.
Tasked with capturing the optimism of Alberta's future, architect Allan Merrick Jeffers — who also designed the Legislature Building — implemented the cornerstones of Beaux-Arts architecture. A large cornice, front pilasters and Ionic columns convey a grand sense of permanence for what was the largest educational building in Alberta. Boasting a symmetrical sandstone facade, carved finishings, and elaborate window trim, the building joined a growing list of public and commercial structures made out of sandstone, deservedly earning Calgary the nickname "Sandstone City."
The Calgary Board of Education purchased the normal school in 1922 renamed it after Methodist missionary George McDougall and his sons, John and David. Serving as a junior high school and then an elementary school until declining enrolment forced its closure in 1981, the building is now owned by the Government of Alberta, becoming a space for government offices and events. A gymnasium and three-storey addition, constructed in 1959, was removed during a restoration project in 1986, restoring the building's original appearance.
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