Banff National Park Pavilion [SEP] architect
Banff National Park Pavilion
The Banff National Park Pavilion, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Francis Conroy Sullivan, Wright's only Canadian student. Designed in 1911, in the Prairie School style, construction began in 1913 and was completed the following year. The pavilion was built on the Recreation Grounds near the south end of the Bow River Bridge on the edge of the town of Banff, itself located within Banff National Park in Alberta. The last of only two Wright designs in Canada, the pavilion was demolished in 1938
for the government as an architect for, as it was then known, the Department of Public Works.
By the 1900s Banff National Park, as it had become known, was increasing in popularity and had become accessible by automobile in 1911. A visitor pavilion was commissioned by government officials in Ottawa. A concept plan had been submitted by residents of Banff to Ottawa, but officials rejected it. Envisioning a more refined structure Wright and Sullivan were hired. The building contract was awarded to Bennett, Debman, & Co.,