A fire has damaged the historic former Tuxedo Park School in northeast Calgary, a building the City has been working to preserve while planning for the future of the site.

Calgary firefighters were called to the former school at 1 Street N.E. and 28 Avenue N.E. shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Crews arrived to find smoke coming from the boarded-up building. Firefighters located signs of a fire in the basement and began attacking the blaze from inside while other crews removed boards covering doors and windows to gain access.

The building was searched and no occupants were found. No injuries were reported.

Calgary Fire Department spokesperson Alex Kwan told CityNews the fire appeared to have spread from the basement toward the second floor. Two ladder trucks were used to access the roof and upper-floor windows.

The fire was contained to the original school building.

The cause remains under investigation.

A building already slated for preservation and reuse

The original Tuxedo Park School was built in 1920 and is considered a heritage resource by the City.

It is an example of Calgary’s bungalow-school design, a type of small school built during the city’s early population growth. The City says only four examples of the design remain.

The Calgary Board of Education declared the property surplus and the City acquired it in December 2022.

Since then, work has focused on maintaining the property and protecting the original schoolhouse while its long-term future is determined.

A 1956 addition to the school was demolished in 2025 after the City determined it had no heritage value. That same year, crews replaced the roof of the original building, completed interior stabilization work and replaced its front doors. The original doors were removed and stored for possible future use.

The City is now in the early planning stage for the property and is studying how the site could eventually accommodate a mix of library space, housing and public park space.

Adaptive reuse of the 1920 schoolhouse is also being considered.

No final design has been selected and funding for redevelopment has not yet been approved.

The City has said any future facilities on the site would not be expected to become operational before around 2030, subject to future approvals and funding.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday how the fire damage could affect those plans.