Banff National Park of Canada

Banff National Park Administration Building and the Cascades of Time Garden

The Banff National Park administration building is situated on 12 acres of land that were acquired by Parks Canada in 1934. From the 1890's until the disastrous fire of 1934, the Bretton Hall Sanitarium, one of Banff's oldest resort businesses, had occupied the property.

Architect Harold C. Beckett, of Ontario, designed the building and gardens to compliment one another and the surrounding landscape.

Built in 1935-36 for park administration purposes, the building was the first representation of the federal government in the national parks. Beckett insisted on using locally acquired materials on the exterior as well as the interior of the building.

The aesthetic design and craftsmanship as well as the historical relationship between the building and the landscape were all factors leading to the administration building's designation as a Recognized federal Heritage building.

The Cascades of Time Garden

 

June - September
Flower gardens with walking path behind the Banff Park Administration Building.

Open daily.
Free admission.

"Banff is to have a geological garden which will be the only one of its kind in the world. It will depict in rock, plants and models the evolution of life and it will be named The Cascades of Time."

-Banff Crag & Canyon, 1934

Harold C. Beckett dreamed of creating in his garden a journey through time. A series of pools were to represent the main geological periods during which the rocks of the Rocky Mountains were formed. Cascades of water - "The Cascades of Time" - would connect these pools made from rocks of an appropriate age.

Due to a due to a lack of funding and various geological errors, the Cascades of Time Garden is a different reality than what Beckett had hoped for. They are, however, a rare example of landscape design and coordination with a building, which was planned by the same architect. They are a unique and beautiful example of Canadian landscape design.