The following is a guest post by Alexander Salopek, a collection development specialist in the Collection Services Division of the Law Library of Congress. He previously wrote posts on Fred Korematsu’s Drive for Justice, Fred Korematsu Winning Justice, Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, Ibrahim Muteferrika, First Muslim Printer of the Ottoman Empire, and The Coroner’s Court, Westminster, London: Pic of the Week, among others.
While attending the CALL/ACBD 2025 Conference in Calgary, Canada, I was able to take the long way back to the hotel to see the Calgary Court Centre en route. It opened in 2008, and was a 300 million dollar project. (Chomick, 36.) The design includes using the old brass doors from the previous courthouse that stood in the same location. The Calgary Court Centre houses both the Court of the King’s Bench and the Alberta Court of Justice, where all criminal and most civil cases are heard for the province of Alberta. It houses the Calgary branch of the Alberta Law Libraries. There is also a park adjacent to the building that has the building from 1914, which was originally the Supreme Court of Alberta until 1962, and from 1988 to 2001 was used by an appellate court. The park has some lovely public art in it, and it seems to be popular; I saw some families spending the evening there together.
Work cited:
Chomick, Bill, The Calgary Courts Centre: Courthouse Design With Its Users in Mind, 32(4) LawNow 35-39 (2008).
Comments (2)
I really enjoyed your post. Such history on display. Your pictures speak volumes. Court of Kings, the great seal of Canada and the brass doors are a statement of the way things are changing. Progress we call it. Security is another word. I wonder what will become of the brass doors? It is a shame they were not used inside the building in the lobby or even as bathroom doors.
Upon closer inspection of the brass doors display it looks rather permanent. A polish a day keeps the tarnish away?