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HARMONY LANE

111 Banff Avenue, Banff, Alberta, T1L, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2001/11/26

Harmony Lane, Banff, Alberta. A Municipal Historic Resource.; Town of Banff, Troy Pollock, 2002.
Banff Avenue front facade
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Other Name(s)

HARMONY LANE
Harmony Drug Store
Harmony Lane Building
Harmony Tea Room

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1917/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2005/01/27

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

Harmony Lane, built in the rustic National Park style, is a prominent commercial building situated on two lots on Banff Avenue, the main commercial street in Banff, Alberta. The designation applies to the restored front facade of the building.

Heritage Value

The historical value of Harmony Lane lies in its direct association with Byron Harmon, an internationally noted landscape photographer and mountaineer. A founding member and official photographer of the Alpine Club of Canada, Harmon used his pictures and films from his travels in the Canadian Rockies to promote the region as a tourist destination in lectures and publications all over the world. Harmony Lane is still owned by the Harmon family.

Architecturally, Harmony Lane is significant as one of the finest remaining examples of early commercial mountain architecture in Banff. Designed by the Calgary architect, Rex Arlo Millar, the front facade retained five solid river stone columns from an earlier building of Harmon’s on the site that was destroyed by fire in 1917. The roof profile facing Banff Avenue, formed by the two gable peaks with their flared ends, wood battens and rustic stucco panels, illustrate the rustic mountain style preferred for National Park buildings at the beginning of the twentieth century. The front facade of Harmony Lane was restored to its late 1920s appearance in 2001.

Harmony Lane is a major landmark on Banff Avenue and contributes greatly to the historic streetscape and character of Banff’s downtown commercial area.

Source: Town of Banff Municipal Historic Resource Designation File 01HD01 and Town of Banff Registry of Recognized Heritage Resources File 111 Banff Avenue

Character-Defining Elements

The character defining elements of the restored front facade of Harmony Lane include:
- the form and massing of the restored front facade;
- the restored features of the front facade exhibiting rustic mountain style (e.g. gable peaks with wood battens and stucco panels);
- the five original river stone columns.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Alberta

Recognition Authority

Local Governments (AB)

Recognition Statute

Historical Resources Act

Recognition Type

Municipal Historic Resource

Recognition Date

2001/11/26

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
Learning and the Arts
Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life
Architecture and Design

Function - Category and Type

Current

Historic

Commerce / Commercial Services
Shop or Wholesale Establishment

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Town of Banff, Planning and Development Department, Town Hall, 110 Bear Street, PO Box 1260, Banff, AB, T1L 1A1. (Municipal Historic Resource Designation File: 01HD01) Town of Banff, Planning and Development Department, Town Hall, 110 Bear Street, PO Box 1260, Banff, AB, T1L 1A1. (Town of Banff Registry of Recognized Heritage Resources File: 111 Banff Avenue)

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

4664-0004

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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