Precedent for Daniel J. Kirk's glass box on Stephen Avenue

Today, artist Daniel J. Kirk emerged from the glass cube on 8th Avenue and 2nd Street SW for the first time since Oct. 1. This was an isolation and art-making project. Kirk stayed in the cube in full view of the public and painted the glass from inside. He was sustained by water but no food.

Note the glass timing booth mounted high above the street at the northeast corner of 8th Avenue and 1st Street SE. It was placed there in December 1918. Glenbow Archives ND-8-275

Ninety-four years ago, another glass box was placed a block further east, where it remained for years. It was the Calgary Municipal Railway's glass timing booth, where street railway employees timed streetcars to keep track of the city's streetcar system. All but two lines in the entire network passed the busy corner of 8th Avenue and 1st Street SW, where the "glass booth" was mounted above the street. A clock outside the former Bank of Montreal (which housed A&B Sound in the 1990s) roughly occupies the same site now.