
Model of Banff Springs Hotel finds new home at Calgary business
A replica of the iconic Banff Springs Hotel has found a new home — although it won't be accepting reservations.
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After being owned by the Calgary International Airport for several years, Calgarian Frank Kaufmann's model of the hotel has been relocated to another Calgary-based business.
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Gary Hinton, with Falkbuilt, a manufacturer specializing in interior construction, noticed the model separated into pieces at a warehouse near their facility in southeast Calgary.
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Falkbuilt found it, 'rescued it and displayed it for their own purpose,' said Kaufmann, 88, who was greeted by staff at Falkbuilt, including CEO Mogens Smed on Wednesday afternoon.
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Hinton said, 'It's just great that that it didn't get destroyed . . . all the hard work and the effort that went in that Frank put into it.'
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Kaufmann built the replica — which is around the size of a small car — beginning in the late 1970s, and finished it over three years.
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Falkbuilt currently has it on display at one of its showrooms, and may move it to a more permanent location in the future.
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Before the airport bought it in 2019, the model sat in Kaufmann's southwest Calgary garage for decades.
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'I feel quite happy, because originally I wanted to dump it . . . I had nobody who was interested,' said Kaufmann, noting he had approached the Banff Springs Hotel and they were not interested in purchasing it.
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His model-building journey has included replicas of buildings such as Calgary's historic City Hall, churches and his homes over the years — but his largest and most spectacular is the Banff Springs Hotel.
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Kaufmann had difficulty mimicking the rock that lines the sides of the iconic hotel. He wound up using sand from a beach in Scheveningen, Holland.
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'That beach, the beach sand, had exactly the color that I was looking for. I came across it accidentally,' said Kaufmann, adding he brought some on the plane ride home.
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