The fascinating and storied history of Calgary's 119-year-old Deane House
Nestled in Inglewood, the Deane House has some fascinating history attached to it and was once home to a police superintendent, and now serves Calgary as a popular restaurant.
Built in 1906, the Deane House was constructed at Fort Calgary, the headquarters of the North West Mounted Police (NWMP), for Captain Richard Burton Deane, Calgary’s last serving North West Police Superintendent.
He lived in the house until 1914, when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) purchased the land Fort Calgary was on and demolished most of the fort’s buildings for a new rail terminal.
The Deane House escaped demolition and was one of the only surviving structures. It was moved to the property’s southeast corner and served as living quarters for the GTPR’s station agents for 15 years.
NWMP Commemorative Association/Facebook
In 1929, the house was purchased by C.L. Jacques, an entrepreneur who wanted to use the building as a boarding house. The Deane House was then moved across the Elbow River to its current location, a very impressive feat at the time. The move was even recognized in the magazine Popular Mechanics in 1929.
It remained as a boarding house until the City of Calgary purchased the home in 1973 to be used as an art gallery and restaurant.
In 2012, the building closed until 2016, when it was fully restored and reopened as a restaurant by the team behind the River Cafe, blending fine dining with the site’s rich history.
Today, the Deane House is one of the best restaurants in Calgary, but it also has a reputation as one of the city’s most haunted buildings.
There have been numerous reports of supernatural activity over the years, including a mysterious disconnected telephone that rings, unexplained voices and footsteps throughout the house, and ghost sightings, including a mysterious man smoking a pipe.
Whether you’re there for the food or the stories, the Deane House offers a rare taste of Calgary’s vast history.