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The architect behind the iconic Calgary Tower also designed an International Style landmark at 620 7th Avenue SW, just across the way from SOM's recently erected 707 Fifth. Standing in rich contrast to the modern glassy volume, the 12-storey John J. Bowlen Building boasts a vertically accentuated facade by W.G. Milne, one of Alberta's most illustrious architects.
The building was named after Alberta's Lieutenant Governor, who served in his post from 1950 until 1959. It has continuously housed provincial offices since its completion in 1969, and through the 1970s, contained the southern Alberta location of the Premier's Office.
Built at a time when glass curtain wall office buildings were very much in vogue, the Bowlen Building's heavier facade represented a renewed shift towards masonry-clad highrises, which benefitted from a greater regulation of incoming light and heat. The Bowlen Building's massing, a two-storey podium and plaza surmounted by a slab tower, is complemented by a series of Tyndall-stone piers and brick pilasters that emphasize the structure's verticality. Precast concrete panels at the podium roof and tower parapet contain the rectangular tower expression. The opposite west and east facades are relatively bare, with window slits interrupting the minimalist background on every floor.
Leading to the lobby is an entrance employing bronze and brass detailing, setting the tone for an ornamented interior finished with terrazzo flooring, bronze ceiling fixtures, a stainless steel balustrade and marble wall cladding. The lobby is also home to a 13-metre-wide mural by Alberta artist Ron (Gyo-Zo) Spickett, who was commissioned by Milne to design a showstopping piece for the space. The mural conveys Alberta's settlement, history, and the sometimes conflicting relationship between human beings and the environment.
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