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Revered landmarks like the Calgary Tower and the Centennial Planetarium were tangible nods to Canada's 100th birthday, as country-wide celebrations facilitated Canadian patriotism and new cultural complexes in the nation's biggest cities. Just eight years after the 1967 affair, the City of Calgary would recognize its own centennial. Incorporated in 1875, 450,000 Calgarians marked the occasion 100 years later in multiple ways, not the least of which was the creation of new parkland across the city.
Century Calgary, the City's coordinating agency for centennial celebrations, was tasked with establishing 100 additional acres of parkland for the big year. Everything from small neighbourhood parks to large river valley parks took root in the city. The Brutalist Century Gardens in the downtown core was initiated by the Devonian Group, a conglomeration of charities founded by local oil baron and philanthropist Eric Harvie. The $3.2 million Century Gardens and Devonian Gardens were the organization's seminal works.
Designed by J.H. Cook Architects and Engineers, the park was inspired by American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, and utilizes stark expanses of concrete and water features to form abstract depictions of nature, particularly the Rocky Mountains. The design endorses Halprin's overarching theory that parks should contain elements integral to human survival, including water, shelter and clear gateways.
The striking space was built at a time when Calgary was coming of age, and joined a number of other contemporary building projects that instilled a daring new face to the city. Century Gardens is now listed in Calgary's inventory of evaluated historic resources. The park is currently undergoing lifecycle upgrades that are expected to be complete in 2018.
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