restoring field stone in Banff, Alberta In 2001, I was engaged to prepare a conservation plan for the restoration and repair of the historic facade of the Harmon Building, known as Harmony Lane, at 111 Banff Avenue in Banff, Alberta. This is a remarkable building completed in 1920 by the famous mountain photographer, promoter and entrepreneur Byron Harmon. Harmon was an ardent advocate for a rustic ‘National Park Style’ architecture for Banff; the use of uncut field stones for his building façade is an important factor in the design evolution of this mountain town. Both river stones and field stones would have been readily available to Banff’s masons; in this case natural stone was both aesthetic and structural.
Byron Harmon died in 1942; by the 1960s his son Don decided that the building needed updating. The original, elegantly tapered stone columns were covered and straightened with cut and shaped fieldstone, a more ‘modern’ look. When Byron Harmon’s granddaughter Carole Harmon and her children Sebastian and Julia Hutchings, became the owners after Don Harmon died in 1997, Carole’s vision was to have this building protected as a significant historic resource. It was recognised in 2001 as the first municipal historic resource in Banff under the Alberta Historical Resources Act. The building façade was restored to its earliest configuration, uncovering the original tapered fieldstone columns along Banff Avenue.
Whyte Museum and Archives, Banff, Alberta. R A Millar Collection
above: the street elevation of the Harmon Building, and above left: a section through the wing. These working drawings were prepared for Byron Harmon by Calgary CPR architect, R A Millar. The original 1914 building, with the 5 structural field stone columns along the facade, was constructed by Byron Harmon as a movie theatre and designed by Chicago architect Harvey Wright. When the theatre burned down in January 1917, right , the structural stone columns across the front were the only part left standing. By July 1917, part of Millar’s design for the new building had been built and occupied; the rest of the building was completed by 1920 below: Harmon’s in 1914, before it burned down. below right: Banff Avenue and the Harmon Building after restoration in 2004
courtesy of Shannon Angell
Carole Harmon
16 on site review 48 :: building materials
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator