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Together with its similarly scaled neighbours, the Norman Block helped define the pedestrian-oriented streetscape of Stephen Avenue. The retail corridor arose from Canadian Pacific Railway's decision to locate its depot west of the Elbow River on 9th Avenue, and by 1908, Stephen Avenue had become a prominent strip replete with banks, shops, offices and a hotel.
The Norman Block was one of four commercial properties built on Stephen Avenue by Senator James Alexander Lougheed, who named each of them after one of his sons. The 1904-built structure, designed by Calgary architect William Dodd, was erected on the site following another mixed-use building that was destroyed by fire. In its formative years, the building housed the Alberta Piano Company, McDermid Drug Company and Robinsons Clothing.
The rear of the building devoted space to the Lyric Theatre, which hosted everything from vaudeville and concerts to political rallies and boxing matches. It graduated to motion pictures by 1913 and became part of the Pantages chain the following year before the theatre's ousting in 1921. Closing for renovations, the building reopened in 1923 as The Arcade, welcoming a variety of small businesses.
The Edwardian Commercial building in Calgary suffered the same fate as its predecessor, succumbing to a fire in 1933. This time however, the interior was rebuilt, with its wood beams replaced by steel girders. Today, its exterior still reminds passersby of Calgary's evolution into a city of sandstone.
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