DR A. CYRIL WALSH HOUSE
Firm: unknown
Address: 3817 9 Street SW
Date: 1951
Status: standing as built
Although it was built in 1951, the Cyril Walsh house looks as though it should have been constructed in the 1930s. Set at a 45 degree angle to the street, the streamline moderne house is perched on a hilltop looking south into the Elbow River valley. From the outside it appears to be almost entirely original.
THE CLIENT
Dr Alvin Cyril Walsh (1912–1971) was born in Winnipeg on 27 October 1912. In 1934 he received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Saskatchewan and in 1939 his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Manitoba. Following graduation he came to Calgary and interned at the Holy Cross Hospital. After the outbreak of the War he joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps as a Lieutenant. In 1941 he was shipped overseas but in June of that year was discharged due to bronchiectasis. At this time he returned to the Holy Cross. In 1945 he went to study at the Mayo Clinic in New York for two and a half years, and then spent six months at St Paul's Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. In 1948 he received his Master of Science in orthopedic surgery from the University of Minnesota.
In 1948 Walsh returned to Calgary and joined the Calgary Associate Clinic. He practised mainly at the Holy Cross Hospital and the Alberta Children's Hospital. From 1949 to 1969 he was the team doctor for the Calgary Stampeders, and in 1969 he became an associate director of the club.
In 1940 Walsh married Esther Louise Staudinger (1916–2014), who was a nurse at the Holy Cross. They had two sons: Daniel and Doug. On 11 August 1971 while at his cottage on Lake Windermere, Walsh died at age 59.