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Engraved bricks face uncertain fate in Olympic Plaza redesign

The downtown space is in line for an overhaul, but the bricks bearing donors' names are in poor shape and won’t be able to be reused as a walking surface when the area gets redeveloped.

City says 30-year-old bricks bearing donors' names in bad shape

CBC News ·

Engraved Olympic Plaza bricks purchased for $19.88 decades ago face uncertain future

8 years ago
Duration 0:39
The downtown space is in line for an overhaul, but the bricks bearing donors' names are in poor shape and won’t be able to be reused as a walking surface when the area gets redeveloped.

Back in 1987, when Olympic Plaza was under construction, you could pay just under $20 to get your name engraved on one of the bricks that line the ground.

Now it's unclear what will happen to those bricks when the city overhauls the downtown space.

"Through time, weather and use — they're not in great shape. So the ability to take out the bricks and then put them back in, in a similar fashion, is not feasible," Carlie Ferguson, urban strategy lead with the city, told the Calgary Eyeopener.

A group of people laying bricks
'If you don't know someone who has a brick, you know someone who knows someone who has a brick,' says Carlie Ferguson, urban strategy lead with the City of Calgary. (City of Calgary archives)

While the city has not committed to digging them up, Ferguson said the bricks won't be able to be reused as a walking surface. 

The plaza has been slated for redevelopment since 2007, but does not yet have funding or a design plan. 

This year the city reached out to the public for ideas on what to do with the space — and the bricks.

The city won't yet say if it will be digging up the engraved Olympic Plaza bricks, but has confirmed that they're not in good enough shape to be reused as a walking surface in the new design. (City of Calgary Archives)

"If you don't know someone who has a brick, you know someone who knows someone who has a brick," said Ferguson.

"Turns out that Calgarians are immensely proud of the Olympic legacy, and so we're exploring options on how to capture that and extend that."

She said the bricks may be incorporated into an art project that captures their "spirit" and the stories behind the people whose names were etched into them some 30 years ago.

  • What would you like to see done with the engraved bricks in Olympic Plaza? Leave your comments below.
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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener
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