MAYFIELD BUILDING

Firm: Rule Wynn and Rule

Address: 1134 8 Avenue SW

Date of final plans: 1953

Status: standing as built

The Mayfield Building was built for the engineering firm Haddin Davis and Brown. It is one of a number of two-storey office blocks built in the 1950s.

John Haddin was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1880. He attended the Royal Technical College in Glasgow and from 1806 to 1896 operated the firm Niven and Haddin. In 1907 he moved to Toronto and worked for the firm John Galt Engineering. When Galt died in 1916, Haddin and Edmund L. Miles took over the company and renamed it Haddin and Miles, Limited. Soon they opened offices in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver. By 1920 Calgary had become the main office. In 1950 the firm became Haddin Davis and Brown, with John Elwood "Jack" Davis, (1924-2014) as a partner. Haddin died on 9 April 1962.

The Mayfield Building has a 75 foot façade, is 80 feet deep, and is clad in a light brown brick. It consists of four bays with the entrace in the left-most bay. Within the bays the brick is laid jack-on-jack, while the pilasters are laid running bond. Each bay has four windows per floor.

Today the Mayfield Building is almost entirely original but looking the worse for wear. I fear that it's a prime candidate for demolition. Seeing how few of these two-storey office blocks remain, it would be amazing to see it restored back to its 1953 glory. I'm not getting my hopes up...