And so, another Cranbrook heritage building, ravaged by fire, is no more.
Demolition of the former Knights Hall on King Street has been completed, as the historic building was deemed unsafe after a fire on Dec. 19.
Knights Hall, the former nurses residence for the St. Eugene Hospital, was serving as a apartment building until a previous fire in November, 2022. It had sat derelict since.
Crews were contracted by the City of Cranbrook to knock down the building, and the costs of that will be passed on to the owner. It is now vanished, its bricks — themselves of historic provenance — buried under the site due to asbestos contamination, and the rest of it piled as rubble, to be removed later.
Knights Hall has followed the fate of the hospital it was built to serve. It is the final chapter in the long life and death of one of Cranbrook’s most historic sites.
The St. Eugene Hospital was built in 1901, and operated by the Catholic Sisters of Charity, with assistance from Dr. J.H. King and F.W. Green. It rapidly doubled its capacity for patients, and another wing was added in 1912 to accommodate the rapid growth of the community at the time.
The hospital was always intended as a teaching hospital, and apartments in the hospital itself were fitted up in 1912. According to the Cranbrook Courier, the first class of nurses included “the Misses M. Sambels, V. Appleton, M. Watt, M. Mackay and M. Grundy.
From the Cranbrook Courier, 1928: “The hospital administration, recognizing its educational obligation to the community, and desirous that … the care of the sick be carried beyond the hospital walls and extend out even to regions too remote for the sisters to reach, decided to open a school of nursing to carry forward this noble work, that through them the St. Eugene Hospital might radiate its message of health and service far and wide regardless of color, creed or condition.”
The hospital expanded even further with its construction of the Nurses residence, which opened in January of 1928, to great public celebration.
The Courier, attending an open house, gushed over the new building in what is perhaps the greatest run-on sentence ever published in Cranbrook:
“In the ascent of the mountain of purgatory, Dante, after a difficult climb, reached a high terrace, encircling the hill, and sitting down, he turned to the east, remarking to his guide ‘All men are delighted to look back,’ and so the formal opening of the new home for the students of St. Eugene School of Nursing will naturally carry the pioneer friends of the institution back in retrospect to a like occasion which occurred some thirty years ago when the first St. Eugene Hospital was opened at St. Eugene Mission, May 1, 1898, and their thoughts will be carried forward in a breathless manner as they recall the leaps and bounds with which that modest foundation kept pace with the ever increasing demands of modern medicine down to the present day.”
The Courier goes on to report that the “new home for the St. Eugene School of Nursing is a very modern building, having all the appearance on the outside of what it proves to be on the inside — comfortable and cosy. It is a three storey edifice, well heated, lighted and ventilated. Each student is provided with a private room, which judging from the generosity of the people thus far, it is safe to say, will be attractively furnished. The first floor is entirely given over to parlour, living room, classroom, demonstration room, library, kitchenette, and office of the directress. The classroom instructor has an office on the second floor, and the remainder of the building is taken up with bedrooms, lavatories, baths, sewing room, trunk room and laundry.
“The classroom opens into a large cheerful living room, where a home-like atmosphere invites relaxation and recreation, and the spacious porch leading out from it promises no end of rest and enjoyment to the weary nurse during the heat of the summer months.”
Only one generation of nursing students was able to enjoy these amenities. The last class of nurses graduated in 1949, and by the 1950s, the hospital itself was aged out. When the Cranbrook and District Hospital was built (now the East Kootenay Regional Hospital), St. Eugene hospital came into private hands, as did the nursing residence, the latter which became private apartments.
The hospital went through various incarnations — a restaurant, a night club, a casino, and finally the Tudor House, which burned to the ground in 2002. And so, the former nurses residence — Knights Hall — has followed the fate of its sister building.
The bricks themselves from which the building was constructed were unsalvageable due to asbestos contamination. However, they also have a local historic resonance. Redcliff Brick Works, just north of Medicine Hat, provided the bricks for both the nurses’ residence and St. Mary’s Church, which also opened in 1928. Redcliff Bricks shut down shortly after both edifices were opened.
Buildings are not permanent, and have life spans — some for thousands of years. And most communities have replaced old buildings with new. The history of Cranbrook’s architectural heritage can be rather fraught. There is a recent movement of rejuvenation, with various downtown heritage buildings being renovated and repurposed, but by and large the former architectural gem of a city is now vanished, through demolition, fire, attrition, progress, and other reasons. Such is life.
The “Tudor House” and the former nurses residence are arguably the most orphaned and unfortunate Cranbrook’s historic buildings, beautifully designed and constructed, which served a purpose that is inextricably linked with Cranbrook’s history.
Maybe someday, new buildings or developments will rise up on what’s really a prominent and historic corner of town, something to greet travellers or residents, where two of Cranbrook’s great but ultimately unloved heritage structures used to stand, on the other side of the tracks.
