Shell Centre is a 33- storey, office tower in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. At completion in 1977, Shell Centre was the fourth tallest building in Calgary, behind

Dome Tower Toronto-Dominion Square, originally Oxford Square, is a full-block building complex in Calgary, Alberta built by Oxford Developments. The project was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of New York, with J. H. Cook and Associates as the archite ...

, Bow Valley Square Two, and

Stephen Avenue Place Stephen Avenue Place, formerly Scotia Centre is an office and retail hub in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Located at 700 2nd Street SW, it stands at 155 metres (509 feet) or 41-storeys tall and was the tallest building in Calgary at the tim ...

. The Shell Centre was announced by Olympia and York Developments in February 1975 as a $35-million, 33-storey, tower to be built on the site of the former Caravan Hotel. The building would be Olympia and York's first development in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

, which went ahead despite the absence of a major tenant at announcement. During construction of the building

Shell Oil Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

would step forward to become the primary tenant for the building in a plan that would consolidate the oil company's 1,000 employees in Calgary, and changing the name of the building to Shell Centre. Shell Centre's design called for 34,000 cubic yards of concrete and 4,700 tons of steel in construction, and the structure was cladded with 1.25 inch think slabs of Italian

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

. The building included two levels of

underground parking A multistorey car park (British English, British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian English, Canadian), parking ramp, parking ...

with capacity for 86 cars. The building was designed in a

figure eight Figure 8 (figure of 8 in British English) may refer to: * 8 (number), in Arabic numerals Entertainment * ''Figure 8'' (album), a 2000 album by Elliott Smith * "Figure of Eight" (song), a 1989 song by Paul McCartney * ''Figure Eight EP'', a ...

shape which allows for eight corner offices, and includes a recessed lobby accessible from street levels behind a series of supportive pillars. The

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The Ca ...

would note the tower marked a turning point in corporate offices in Calgary, moving away from the traditional simple towers which were previously common in the city, to more elaborate and flamboyant skins of marble and granite which were common in

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

cities.

References

External links

* Buildings and structures in Calgary Skyscraper office buildings in Calgary Modernist architecture in Canada Shell plc buildings and structures Office buildings completed in 1977 {{Alberta-struct-stub

See also

References

External links