Right from the beginning, it found itself under attack for being too opulent and too expensive to operate and maintain. Its nearly 28-acres of grounds required a small army of men, while a team of maids was kept busy inside dusting and cleaning an assortment of elegant antiques, Queen Anne furniture, rich draperies and carpets, stocks of crested china and silver services.

It all added up to a big tab for Alberta taxpayers between $18,000 and $26,000 a year in the early 1920s. With the provincial economy limping along, such extravagance was not well received and when W.M. Davidson, an Independent Calgary MLA, introduced a motion that it be sold, the motion passed by a vote of 29 to 16.

But the motion was rescinded and Government House continued along, eating away at the public purse. Details of the cost of furnishings and maintenance, all tabled in the legislature, only served to deepen the publics suspicion that a privileged few were wining and dining at public expense. As many Albertans had come to Canada to escape such abuses of privilege and class, its no wonder that local newspapers were brimming with arguments for and against closure of Government House.

Expenses of the time included new draperies in 1927 and, that same year, Lieutenant-Governor William Egbert decided that he could not do without a new Victrola. The drapes had apparently worn out again by 1931 and Premier John Brownlee agreed to replace them but flatly turned down a request from Mrs. Bertha Walsh, wife of Lieutenant-Governor William Walsh, for a grand fireplace for the reception hall.

The end for Government House came with controversy. In 1937, the Social Credit government of William Aberhart introduced three bills that Lieutenant-Governor John C. Bowen refused to sign.

Two of the bills would have put banks under the authority of the provincial government. The third, the Accurate News and Information Act, would have forced newspapers to print government rebuttals to stories the Cabinet deemed misleading. All three bills were later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council at Westminster, England.

Shortly after, Aberhart announced the government was shutting down the mansion. Bowen and his family were quickly moved into rooms at the Hotel Macdonald. At the time, the Premier maintained the closure was prompted by austerity. But his timing has always left the impression that the closure was political.

Government House was sealed and remained unused for four years, dusted and cleaned by the lone caretaker. In the meantime, World War II had commenced and, as the Americans began working on the Alaska Highway project, they made Edmonton a major administrative and storage base.

Thousands of men and tons of equipment were moved into the city and an acute housing shortage quickly developed. Northwest Airlines approached the province about using the boarded up mansion as a dormitory for its military and civilian servicemen contracted to fly supplies to the teams building the highway. The Alberta government agreed.

To get it ready, all of the contents carpets, furniture, lamps, china and household items were emptied from Government House and sold at a public auction. The treasures that had been purchased over the previous quarter century for more than $75,000 fetched precisely $19,642 at auctions in October 1942.

Northwest Airlines retained the mansion until the end of 1944 and then it was leased to the Department of Veterans Affairs for $1 a year. The DVA used the mansion as a home for disabled veterans and made many alterations to the interior to accommodate the requirements of a convalescent hospital. An elevator large enough to take hospital beds and gurneys was installed and a ghastly iron fire escape unceremoniously bolted to the north side of the building.

An ornate burrowed daylight shaft, measuring eight feet square and which gave the upper floors abundant natural light, was boarded over for more floor space. After seven years of leasing, the federal government purchased the building in 1951 for $350,000 exactly what it had cost to build and furnish nearly 40 years earlier.

During this time, the conservatory, which had been built on the western side of the mansion in 1912 and 1913, was demolished. Government House remained a veterans convalescent hospital until the mid 1960s. The home was run by a nursing staff of 15 or so who cared for about 30 residents, mostly aging veterans from the Boer and First World wars.

In 1964, Government House was returned to the Province of Alberta and later that decade the main floor was restored, just as construction was underway for the adjacent Provincial Museum and Archives of Alberta. But too many years of inadequate maintenance took their toll and in 1971, shortly after the visit of Russian Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin, the main floor ceiling collapsed.

That was the trigger for some major restorations, some $1.7 million worth, that transformed the vintage mansion into a facility for high level government conferences, dinners and receptions. Custom-manufactured steel spandrels were slid into the roof from south wall to north wall, adding much needed support. The roof was repaired and tiled.

A large section of the west side sandstone wall was carefully dismantled and new heating, plumbing, electrical wiring and air conditioning was installed, along with a new wide stairway to all floors to meet fire regulations. The west wall and foundation were also extended out 18 feet and new sandstone carefully matched to the original. The gaudy fire escape on the north side was removed.

Interior detailing, including the original entranceway woodwork, was preserved, while plaster work on the walls and ceilings of the drawing room and dining room was repaired. The main floor was restored to resemble the original building as closely as possible, while the second floor was converted into six small conference rooms, each named after one of the six Lieutenant-Governors who lived in Government House. The third floor consists of a large conference facility named the Alberta Room.

The restored building was officially opened on Heritage Day, August 1st, 1976. Nine years later, on June 12th, 1985, Government House was designated a Provincial Historic Resource. As such, it cannot be altered without the permission of the Minister in charge of cultural institutions.

A new residence for Albertas Lieutenant-Governor was purchased on Glenoras St. Georges Crescent in 1966.

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