Landmark Building
A.E. CROSS HOUSE
1240 - 8 Avenue SE, Calgary
Designed By: J.L. Wilson
Built in 1891
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This farmhouse was built in 1891 for Matthew Neilson from Beaver, BC, to designs by the architect J.L. Wilson. H. Meyers, a lawyer, owned the house by 1899, when A.E. Cross purchased it for $2,305, just before he married. His wife, Nell Macleod, was the daughter of Colonel James Macleod of the NWMP, namesake of Fort Macleod and Macleod Trail. She was reputedly the first white child born (1878) in the region.
The A.E. Cross House was among the most distinguished of Calgary’s early homes. Gables embellished with fine decorative woodwork projected from the hipped roof. The beveled siding was painted grey, and scalloped cresting and decorative woodwork resembling a widow’s walk accented the roof in a contrasting shade. Fruit trees and acres of land surrounded the house. There was plenty of room for a team of horses, polo ponies, a cow, pigs, chickens, pheasant and partridge, which were housed in out-buildings on the property.
Montreal was the birthplace of A.E. Cross in 1861. He came west following the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Calgary in 1883 and was employed at the Cochrane Ranch as a veterinarian, bookkeeper and ranch hand for a year. He accumulated land, and in 1885, founded the A7 Ranch near Nanton. A riding accident caused Cross to become less active in ranching after 1888. Instead, he went east to study brewing at technical schools in Montreal, New York and Chicago. In 1892 he returned to found the region’s pioneer brewery, the Calgary Brewing & Malting Company.
A.E. Cross was well thought of by community residents. He was elected to the North-West Territory Legislature in 1898 and was a staunch supporter of Sir Frederick Haultain’s fight to bring Provincial status to Alberta and Saskatchewan, a goal accomplished in 1905. He was an enterprising man. To provide an outlet for his Calgary Brewing & Malting Company products, he created the Ranchmen’s Trust Company to develop hotels. He was a pioneer founder of the Western Stock Growers’ Association, the Calgary Board of Trade, the Ranchmen’s Club, and the Calgary Gold and Country Club. Through his involvement in Calgary Petroleum Products, Mr. Cross participated in Alberta’s first oil boom in 1914 at Turner Valley.
Cross was also one of the founding members of the Calgary Stampede, along with Pat Burns, George Lane, and A.J. MacLean. The Big Four, as they were collectively titled, invested $25,000 each to finance the first parade and rodeo in Calgary in 1912.
A.E. and Nell Cross had seven children. They were Helen, Selkirk, James, Mary, Margaret, Alexander and John. Many children including Helen and Selkirk Cross, died of diphtheria in 1904 because the nearest vaccine was in Winnipeg, and it arrived too late to save them. In 1912, Cross considered building a mansion in Mount Royal. When Nell visited the site, the wind blew her hat off. She thought it was too windy and they kept the house in Inglewood.
After an eventful life A.E. Cross died in Calgary in 1943. The children of A.E. Cross donated the house to the City of Calgary in 1973 and it was designated a Provincial Historical Resource in 1977.
The Landmark Buildings and Places Database draws on the series of walking and/or driving tour booklets produced by Alberta Culture (now Alberta Culture and Community Spirit). The Heritage Community Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ministry through permission to reprint these materials online. Extracted from Calgary: Atlantic Avenue Inglewood: Historical Walking Tours. Heritage Inventory Program, Alberta Community Development, and the Old Town Calgary Society, 1999, with permission from Alberta Culture and Community Spirit. Visit the Alberta Culture and Community Spirit for more information.