The dilapidated Irricana Hotel has been sold to a Calgary resident who is keen to restore it to its former glory – as a historical rest stop and tavern along Highway 9 that points travellers towards the Alberta badlands.
Built some 112 years ago, the building along the town's main strip was previously the “hub of Irricana life,” according to the Town website. It now remains uninhabited due to the structure’s unsafe conditions, and local fire officials recently erected a fence around it to keep people out.
Kerry Tucker, nearing retirement from Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway, hopes to eventually return the building to its former status as a bustling venue for drinks, dancing, and discourse.
Tucker says he was captivated by the history of the building – which served as one of the only stopping houses located between Calgary and Drumheller – and purchased the crumbling property, "because of the historical aspect, and it made me sad to see an old hotel like that with stories to tell, kind of dilapidated. It's a good challenge.”
Tucker says renovating the building will be a rewarding retirement project, adding he would like to restore a serviceable bar in the front and a courtyard on the side in a multi-phase approach.
The Calgarian owns his own construction company and is no stranger to getting his hands dirty. Tucker says the first step in the restoration will be to stabilize the building, replace beams and walls, bolster floors, and implement a temporary roof before gutting the premises.
“I’d like to bring it back to the three-storey building it was prior to 1930 and then put the balconies back on and operate it as a functional bar," he said.
Tucker says he would like to work with the engineer to make the necessary corrections to keep the dream alive.
“I can build a new building, but it won’t have the mystique of an old building,” he said, adding levelling the old hotel would be a loss to the community; a hidden gem in the province that allegedly houses a few ghostly apparitions from days gone by. "It would be part of the Badlands’ story. I’d like to keep the old building because there’s not a lot of them left."
According to the Town website, the building was renovated following a major fire that swept through the business district in 1928. The Irricana Hotel initially offered rooms, a tavern, restaurant and Irricana’s first telephone exchange. The Town stated a collection of old murals painted on the tavern walls around 1925 by Guy Welsh are its most recent “claim to fame.”
Tucker says due to modern building codes, he will have to make changes to the interior of the building, but would like to tie the hotel's theme to the decommissioned CP rail line running through Irricana.
“I would like to tie in some of the railway aspects, and some of the cowboy and rancher aspects of [Irricana’s history] to bring that community back into the heart of [Irricana],” he added. “When you read the old stories, [the hotel] used to be the gathering place, the weekend dance club."
Irricana mayor Jim Bryson says though the hotel serves as a piece of town history, it remains a bit of an embarrassment in its current condition.
“[The Town] would love to see it restored back to its original state – it's what we’re hoping for,” he said. “The older residents who can remember it open, it means their history. But to the newer residents, it’s just an eyesore.”
“I’m hoping to change the attitudes of some of the people I’ve run into who want it torn down,” Tucker said. “I want them to see beyond what it is now.
“If I can [restore] it, then I’ll feel I’ve done something. Whether I stay or go, it doesn’t matter – there’ll be a piece of history that can live on.”
