Burns Building
A point of interest on the Discover Downtown Calgary GPS-guided audio walking tour.
Press play & listen to the tour audio!
Audio Transcript
If you take a look to your right across the road, you'll see a large building. If you look up, way up, you'll see this is the Burns Building! The building was quite aptly named as it was built by early 20th century meat baron Pat Burns. Construction was completed more than 100 years ago in 1912. The ground floor was originally used as retail space for Butcher Burn’s Meaty Goods, but what to do with the remaining 35,000 square feet of space?
Ever the businessman, Burns leased space to some of the biggest corporations around including Calgary Power, Rocky Mountain Cement, and a whole host of dentists, doctors, and lawyers!
This historic building was at risk of being demolished in the 80’s to make way for the Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, but the City Council voted to save it by just one vote. Talk about a close call!
Calgary, AB Discover Calgary
This POI is featured on the Downtown Calgary Audio Walking Tour, part of the Tripvia Tours mobile app available for Android & Apple.
All audio walking tours are self-guided and include fully narrated commentary.
Trivia Challenge
Each POI has a fun multiple choice trivia challenge you can test your skills on.
The trivia questions are separate from the commentary and completely optional.
The app keeps score for you so you can challenge your friends and family.
How it Works
hands free + audio
automatically plays
audio tours play based
on GPS location
fun trivia questions
add to the fun
easy navigation with
live GPS maps
professional tour guides
family friendly
no data used on tour
no signal required
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