Calgary's 'secret' Reader Rock Garden considered for historic designation

A retired architect who helped to restore a storied rock garden in the city's southeast is delighted by a proposal to designate the spot a municipal historic resource.

Lorne Simpson, a conservation architect, calls Reader Rock Garden a "well-kept secret" in Calgary.

"Most people don't realize just how wonderful it is," Simpson told the Calgary Eyeopener Monday.

The 1.65-hectare park at 325 25th Avenue S.E., on the northern slope of Union Cemetery, is named for William Roland Reader.

He was the superintendent of City of Calgary parks from 1913 to 1942, and healtered the once bare hillside.

"It was a featureless hill, pretty much, so the transformation that Reader undertook was an enormous task," Simpson says.

A proposal to designate Reader Rock Garden as a municipal historic resource, as well as Confederation Park in the city's northwest, will go before a city committee on Wednesday.

The Calgary Heritage Authority has determined the property to be significant for its intricate and elaborate design, involving rock elements, pathways, trees, water featuresand many planting beds and garden areas. The spot also includes the restored Reader house, containing Reader's Garden Caf.

Simpson says the gardenis also historically significant because of William Reader himself.

"He was a very significant player, not just at the level of a local parks superintendent, but really internationally," Simpson says.

A horticulturist from London, Reader brought in plants from all over the world to the garden acommon practice at the time.

Simpson says Reader planted large Russian poplar treesto create about seven different zones.

"By creating all these different microclimates, that then allowed him to bring in plant material and try it and experiment," Simpson says. "And he experimented to an extraordinary degree."

More than 4,000 different plant species were tested in the garden.

During Reader's tenure, the nursery for Calgary Parks sat at the foot of the garden. Plants that grew successfully on the rock slopes were moved into the nursery, then out to parks across Calgary.

"There was this very elaborate system that was very, very focused on the reality of the Calgary climate," he says.

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener