City of Calgary reverses course on demolishing Ogden Block building
Posted May 23, 2026 12:29 pm.
The City of Calgary has changed course on plans to demolish the historic Ogden Block building following a successful attempt from residents to preserve its history.
The Ogden Block, also known as the Hong Lee Laundry Building, was built in 1913 and served as a commercial laundry facility known as Hong Lee Laundry, and a hospital space for wounded soldiers between 1916 and 1918.
According to the University of Calgary’s Digital Heritage Research Group, the building had many owners from 1922 until 2021 and was a family home and a rental property.
In 2021, the city purchased the property to demolish it to make way for Calgary’s Green Line LRT.
“Almost all the other buildings on this street that were bought for demolition have been demolished. This building has stood for the past five years, so we’re thankful for that,” Bonny Warbeck, chair of the Millican Ogden Heritage Group, told CityNews.
Warbeck has led the community effort in saving the building and thought they were fighting a losing battle until recently, when the city changed course.
Now it’s offering the building to interested applicants, so long as they can relocate the building by mid-November.
“We can give this away for a dollar, and we can support with that $50,000 to move it, and essentially what I’ve worked to do over the past few months is chisel away as many barriers to access to a future for this building as I can, and this is where we’re at today,” said Ward 9 Councillor Harrison Clark.
From a laundromat to a Red Cross military hospital, and also operating as a boarding house for Chinese immigrants, there is hope that this building’s story isn’t finished yet.
“It was built here because of the railway behind it and people coming to the area,” Warbeck said.
“So now, many, many, many decades later, we have a new railway being built behind here, the Green Line, so that could spell a new beginning for the same building, just perhaps in a different spot.”
She says she hopes the building can stay in the community and not go too far from its original spot.
Anyone interested will have until June 23rd to submit an application to the city. The listing is online here.
