Built in 1909 by the founder, H.M. Shaw, and the mayor of the town, J.T. Cooper, this large two storey brick and stone building was intended to be the commercial and economic locus of Nanton, which we suppose for most of its life, it has been.
Built on a desirable corner lot, it has a few earmarks of bank buildings of the era, such as a classical pediment over each entrance, Romanesque Revival windows with sandstone keystones on the ground floor, heavy sandstone sills and lintels on the upper floor windows, a heavy cornice with modillions/brackets along each of the building's street sides, an angled corner entrance and a classically detailed angled parapet bearing the names of the principals, Shaw & Cooper, with the year of construction, 1909, above.
The building was declared an Alberta Registered Historic Resource on November 9, 1979.
Shaw and Cooper Block
HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
The historical importance of the Shaw and Cooper Block lies in the fact that it is representative of Alberta's turn-of-the-century small town office buildings. It was built by two Nanton entrepreneurs, both of whom were typical small town businessmen with extensive interests in the town and surrounding area. J.T. Cooper was the first mayor of Nanton, and H.M. Shaw, who founded the town, was a federal Member of Parliament for the Macleod riding. The Shaw and Cooper Block were built to function as the economic focus of the town.
From the Alberta Register of Historic Places
