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Downtown Commercial Core · Calgary office building record

John J. Bowlen Building

Office · high-rise office building · built 1967 · 620 7 Ave SW

LiDAR roof height55.4 m

Storey-equivalent (derived)14

Footprint1,579 m²

Parcel2,170 m²

Year built (roll)1967

Assessed 2026$10.1M

Structures on parcel1

Nearest CTrain41 m

Civic address: 620 7 Ave SW, Calgary, AB
Community: Downtown Commercial Core (DNC)
City sub-property use: C101 Office · all Office sites
Land use district: CR20-C20/R20 — Commercial - Residential Core (Commercial - Core)
Height rank: #87 of 580 citywide · #67 of 111 in Downtown Commercial Core
Site coverage: 73% of parcel under LiDAR footprints
Parcel pieces: 1 titled piece · roll 201497625
Coordinates: 51.047118, -114.075333

Massing and site plan

Left: isometric massing of every LiDAR structure on the parcel, at true scale, viewed from the south-west with 3.9 m storey lines. Right: plan of the parcel with surrounding footprints, Plus 15 walkways and nearby stations. Open this building in the 3D city →

55.4 m · 1,579 m²

Context within 150 m. Grey footprints darken with height; lime is the Plus 15 network.

How it compares

Roof height against the Downtown Commercial Core median and tallest, and against the city.

Access

Public-geometry tests only; confirm routes, entrances and hours with the building.

CTrain

Nearest station: 6th Street SW, 41 m straight-line (route 201/202). Planned Green Line station 7 Avenue SW is 522 m away (Downtown Segment, per the City’s Green Line map).

Other office buildings near 6th Street SW Station →

Plus 15

The City’s Plus 15 walkway geometry touches this parcel; the plan above shows the connected segments in lime. Confirm access points, hours and the interior route with the building.

Heritage inventory

The City of Calgary Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources records the following on this parcel.

John J. Bowlen Building

Construction year: 1969
Architect: W.G. Milne
Builder: Strong, Lamb & Nelson Ltd. (Consulting Structural Engineers)
Style: International
Typology: Office
Development era: 1957 to 1982 (Modern)
Designation: Inventory listing only

The site is significant because:

The building is significant for its International-style architecture, which reflects the exploration during the 1960s for alternative expressions of skyscraper form and detailing. The building is characterized by its richly-articulated main facades and high level of craftsmanship and finishing. The lobby contains one of Calgary's most significant public art pieces; a 13-meter wide mural by renowned contemporary Alberta artist Ron (Gyo-Zo) Spickett. (Style value: City-wide significance).

Character-defining elements: Key elements that define the heritage character of the John J. Bowlen Building include its: - setting on the north side of 7th Avenue SW at the corner of 6th Street in downtown Calgary; - contextual features including the paved entry plaza; - form, scale and massing, as expressed by its rectangular plan and 12-storey concrete tower incorporating a two-storey podium that wraps around the west side of the building and a ground-floor extension; a recessed top floor surrounded by an open balcony; offset and inset entryway on east side of the south façade; projecting central stairwell on north (rea

Source: The City of Calgary Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources, entry 691.

Assessment history

Assessed values are The City of Calgary’s taxation figures by roll year, not sale prices or rents; Alberta does not publish transaction prices.

Roll 201497625 · Office

Series not charted. The City’s published values for this roll number change by more than half or double between years, which usually signals a re-numbered, split or partially assessed account rather than a market movement. The published figures are listed below without a trend claim.

Published values by roll year

Roll year	Assessed value	Change
2010	$46.5M	—
2011	$19.7M	-57.7%
2012	$20.3M	2.9%
2013	$45.3M	123.5%
2014	$54.9M	21.2%
2015	$52.8M	-3.8%
2016	$43.3M	-18.0%
2017	$24.3M	-43.8%
2018	$12.7M	-47.7%
2019	$13.3M	4.2%
2020	$12.4M	-6.6%
2021	$11.9M	-3.8%
2022	$10.0M	-15.9%
2023	$8.9M	-10.6%
2024	$8.9M	0.0%
2025	$9.8M	9.8%
2026	$10.1M	2.7%

Development and building permits

Applications the City has located on this parcel since 2012, from the Development Permits and Building Permits datasets.

Recent development permits 0 since 2012

None located on this parcel since 2012.

Recent building permits 11 since 2012 · 11 in the City’s office class

Applied	Permit	Class · work	Est. cost	Status
2026-04-14	BP2026-05875	3402 - Office · Unspecified Modifications to Fire Alarm System	$4,600	Issued Permit
2026-01-26	BP2026-01150	3402 - Office · Unspecified	$25,000	Refused
2024-07-22	BP2024-14901	3402 - Office · Improvement JJ Bowlen	$59,575	Completed
2022-04-19	BP2022-06229	3402 - Office · Improvement Leasehold Improvements	$677,515	Completed
2018-08-21	BP2018-11161	3402 - Office · Improvement Interior Alteration - JSG Office Relocation	$467,751	Completed
2017-09-01	BP2017-11627	3402 - Office · Improvement Interior Alteration - Group D	$41,175	Completed
2017-04-11	BP2017-03545	3402 - Office · Improvement Specialty Fire Alarm upgrade - 4th Floor	$21,500	Completed
2017-04-11	BP2017-03546	3402 - Office · Improvement Specialty Fire Alarm upgrade - Basement	$20,900	Completed

Declared estimated project cost across all 11 non-residential building permits on the parcel since 2012: $2.8M. Permit descriptions are the City’s records at retrieval; applicant and contractor names are not reproduced.

Nearby office buildings

The six nearest office building sites in the record, by straight-line distance between parcel centroids.

635 6 Ave SW86 m · built 1964 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 51 m
601 5 St SW125.8 m · built 2007 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 64 m
645 7 Ave SW109.9 m · built 1988 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 69 m
707 5 St SW125.3 m · built 2015 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 75 m
632 8 Ave SW55 m · built 1951 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 106 m
630 6 Ave SW60 m · built 1965 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 106 m

John J. Bowlen Building questions

Answers drawn from the record.

How tall is John J. Bowlen Building?

The main structure on the parcel has a LiDAR roof height of 55.4 m in The City of Calgary’s 3D building data, a storey-equivalent of about 14 at 3.9 m per storey.

When was John J. Bowlen Building built?

The City’s assessment roll records 1967 as the year of construction. The heritage inventory records 1969.

Which CTrain station is closest to John J. Bowlen Building?

6th Street SW Station, 41 m in a straight line from the parcel centroid.

Is office space available at John J. Bowlen Building?

This profile is built from public records and does not track availability, rents or tenancy. Submit a private requirement and current options in the building or nearby will be confirmed through Commercially.

Open in 3D Downtown Commercial Core office buildings Calgary office space guide Downtown map Skyline Office lease cost guide Office tour checklist

Public record sources: Current Year Property Assessments (Parcel), Historical Property Assessments (Parcel), Assessment Subproperty Use Codes, 3D Buildings - Citywide (LiDAR roof outlines), Land Use Districts, Transit LRT Stations, Green Line Stations, Plus 15, Historic Resource (Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources), Development Permits, Building Permits, Calgary Existing Buildings - Performance Metrics (BenchmarkYYC) — The City of Calgary, retrieved 2026-09-21. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. Building names, floor counts and architects, where shown, come from Wikidata (CC0). No brokerage, listing-data or commercial research source is used.

Boundary: Assessed values are the City’s assessment-roll figures for taxation and are not sale prices, asking rents, vacancy or availability; Alberta does not publish transaction prices. LiDAR heights are roof-surface elevations above the lowest ground point at the building perimeter and can differ from architectural heights. Storey equivalents are derived at 3.9 m per storey and are not floor counts. Distances are straight-line. Permit descriptions are the City’s records at retrieval and do not establish current use, tenancy or availability. Read the methodology.

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