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The corner of 19th Avenue and 2nd Street NW is one of the most unorthodox in the city. It might not be immediately extraordinary from the street, but from above, the landscape resembles four pie slices that join to form a circle. Its shape is not an accident, but a byproduct of a push for social order and civic harmony, the leftovers of urban planning's City Beautiful movement.
Serving as Calgary's Superintendent of Parks and Cemeteries from 1913 to 1942, William Roland Reader was tasked with developing Calgary into a major western destination. His tenure came at a time of great growth in the city, and Reader sought to show the world a "civilized" Calgary by creating public parks, open spaces, recreational facilities, ornamental gardens, and tree-lined streets. Central Memorial Park and Riley Park are perhaps his most famous works, but his pedigree would also take him to smaller locales, where he would beautify neighbourhoods with vibrant floral arrangements.
Balmoral Circus was originally a traffic circle that evolved into the quartered intersection that exists today. Reader's vision for Balmoral Circus was heavily inspired by the City Beautiful movement, which saw urban grandeur and formality as a means towards social order and increased quality of life. By the late 1930s, some 5,000 annuals were planted here every year.
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