Back From the Brink: The Oliver Block

5 Street South with a view of the Oliver Block in 1965
Image courtesy the Galt Museum & Archives | Akaisamitohkanao’pa, 199910804909

5 Street South with a view of the Oliver Block in 1920.
Image courtesy the Galt Museum & Archives | Akaisamitohkanao’pa, 19891046021095

Portrait of William Oliver, c. 1890–1910.
Image courtesy the Galt Museum & Archives | Akaisamitohkanao’pa, 19861078006

Lethbridge’s Oliver Block, located across the street from Draffin’s Pharmacy on 5 Street downtown, has borne an interesting story since the day it was built. Constructed at the turn of the twentieth century, the building was named for its owner William Oliver during his term as Lethbridge’s seventh mayor. The building opened in two separate segments at Oliver’s behest, as he was eager to open his blacksmithing business as soon as possible! In the 120-odd years since, the building has housed a wide variety of tenants. Perhaps what the building is best known for now, however, is how close it came to destruction.

Its ultimate success hearkens back to the same optimism the building originally stood for. With the success of the Galt mines, Lethbridge was experiencing unprecedented growth, warranting further commercial buildings. Countless entrepreneurs operated in the building through the years, with early tenants ranging from O. W. Kerr Co., a real estate firm, to the office of C. F. Harris, a local barrister and notary public. The building even held an opera house at one point, hosting everything from moving pictures to vaudeville performers. A specific point of pride for the block’s restoration team was the number of female business owners now using the space (another quality that has defined the building since its earliest tenants; Dr. Miriam Barber, the city’s very first female dentist, housed her practice in its upper floor).

Portrait of William Oliver, c. 1905.
Image courtesy the Galt Museum & Archives | Akaisamitohkanao’pa, 19871178000

By the 2010s, however, the building was much less inspiring. Its impressive brick façade did little to hide its extensive internal damage and disrepair, and no tenants remained in the space. While not yet official, Lethbridge seemed to reach a silent agreement: It was only a matter of time before the Oliver Block was demolished.

This is where Hunter Heggie, a local business owner, stepped in. He purchased the building from the City in 2017, and organized restoration efforts—a feat many had already written off as impossible. While not easy (Heggie notes that the first year of work consisted entirely of cleaning up the flooding in the basement, and many of the building’s internal structures had to be demolished), the results now speak for themselves. With its uniquely historical façade still in place, work was completed in March 2021, with the building designated as a Municipal Historic Resource in September 2022.

Not all heritage buildings, however, experience such last-minute rescues. Some remain in disrepair, while others have been demolished. To research heritage buildings while they still stand, or to look into those that were lost, visit galtmuseum.com/research.