City Hall, Seat of Calgary’s Government

Calgary, Alberta - C-Train passing city hall. Photographer Carlos Amat, www.carlosamat.ca

City Hall, Seat of Calgary’s Government

The historic Calgary City Hall building, located at the corner of 7^th Avenue south and MacLeod Trail, houses the Office of the Mayor. The original building was constructed from nearby Paskapoo sandstone and completed in 1911. In 1962 a 4-storey brick addition was added to the rear of the building. City Hall was designated a national historic site in 1984.

Although still operating as active office space for City Council members, most of the work and council meetings take place in the adjacent Calgary Municipal Building that houses the more than 2,000 civic staff.

The imposing footprint of the “new” municipal building dominates the adjacent historic City Hall | Photographer unknown

Extensive repair work to the ageing and deteriorating sandstone commenced in 2015 and is likely to take in excess of 4 years to complete. Sadly, access to the building is prohibited until then.

A view across Olympic Plaza of the creative facade that conceals the renovation work happening on the old historic City Hall building.

Getting there

You can navigate to City Hall here.

City Hall is accessible by public transit (bus and C-train), private vehicle, taxi, bicycle or on foot.

For public transit access, you can plan your visit using the City of Calgary transit website;
If you are arriving in your own vehicle, limited street parking is available in the downtown area and parking can be pricey. Consult local signage or calgaryparking.com for more options.
If you are arriving by bicycle, consult the City of Calgary’s bicycle pathway maps here. Bike racks are available at numerous locations nearby and across Macleod Trail at Olympic Plaza. For security reasons, remember to bring your own bicycle lock.

From this convenient location, visitors to Calgary can enjoy some of our other popular and unique exploration recommendations such as:

Wall art and graffiti discovery detour;
Public outdoor sculpture and favourite ice cream locations;
Five fabulous cycle circuit routes associated with some cool coffee stops departing from the East Village;
If you’re strapped for time, consider our “Must-See Calgary” two-hour and half-day exploration options.