Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
In 1913 a single-storey brick structure was built on the Bow River to house water supply pumping equipment for Calgary's 40,000 residents. The pumphouse was abandoned twenty years later. In 1971 the Calgary Youth Drama Society, founded by Joyce Doolittle, Ellen Tims, Victor Mitchell and Ernest Watkins, spearheaded the renovation of the pumphouse into a versatile centre for the performing arts. The Pumphouse Theatre was declared an Alberta historic site in 1975 and received a Heritage Award for Architecture in 1984. It is used by a wide variety of theatre, dance and music groups. In 1987 the Calgary Youth Drama Society changed its name to the Pumphouse Theatres Society. Beginning in the late 1990s Pumphouse ran drama day camps for children, and sponsored a one-act play festival.