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It’s a small piece of Calgary history that won’t warrant a plaque. But it has a place in history, and can now only be remembered in photographs.

The old bungalow at 933 5th Avenue S.W. was the last house in Calgary’s downtown core to have occupants — right up until mid-2012.

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Its inhabitants lived there when it was still in the midst of a residential neighbourhood, away from downtown. When the trees that lined the sidewalks were torn up to widen 5th Avenue and make it a one-way road. When a home next door was demolished to make way for the northwest LRT. When the city around it surpassed a million people, and it was the last of its kind within the downtown commercial core.

A few weeks ago, the city took out a demolition permit for its old property, and knocked down Bob Quinton’s childhood house, rickety white picket fence and all.

Photo by Christina Ryan / Calgary Herald

“It’s progress, I guess,” said Quinton, now 75. He lived in the house from 1947 to 1958, though its ownership stayed in the family for a decade after that.