Hart House (Alberta)
Encyclopedia
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Once owned by Stu Hart
Stu Hart
Stewart Edward "Stu" Hart, CM was a Canadian amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer. Hart founded Stampede Wrestling, a promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, and was the father of famous wrestlers Bret and Owen Hart...
, it was home to his extensive family made world famous for their accomplishments in professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
. While no longer under ownership of the Harts, the mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
continues to be referred to as the Hart House.
The 5600 square feet (520.3 m²) home, sitting on 2.17 acre (0.87816862 ha) of land, was built in 1902 by businessman Edward Crandell. It was converted into the Soldiers' Children's Home for Orphans in 1920 and then bought by Judge Henry Stuart Patterson from the Crandells. Sold to Stu Hart
Stu Hart
Stewart Edward "Stu" Hart, CM was a Canadian amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer. Hart founded Stampede Wrestling, a promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, and was the father of famous wrestlers Bret and Owen Hart...
in 1951 for $
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
25,000, the three story brick house has had many famous professional wrestlers as well as political and entertainment figures pass through its doors.
In its Hart-owned state, it featured twenty-two rooms, four fireplaces, five chandeliers from Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
's historic McDonald Hotel, two porches, a view of downtown Calgary, and a coach house behind the main house. Members of the professional wrestling community around the world hold a great deal of appreciation and respect for the Hart House and the legacy it holds.
The Dungeon
The Hart Family Dungeon, otherwise known simply as The Dungeon, is the basement of the Hart mansion. It is known as one of the most notorious training rooms in the world of athletics and was established by Stu shortly after his founding of Stampede WrestlingStampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies...
in 1948; although, the nickname itself developed over time.
Aside from professional wrestlers, the Dungeon provided training grounds for various athletes from strongmen
Strongman (strength athlete)
In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or circus performers of similar ilk who displayed feats of strength such as the bent press , supporting large amounts of...
to football players
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
. The majority of Hart's sons trained in the Dungeon and went on to become involved in the wrestling world including the legendary Bret
Bret Hart
Bret Hart is a Canadian on-screen personality, writer, actor and Semi-retired professional wrestler. Like others in the Hart wrestling family, Hart has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College...
and Owen Hart
Owen Hart
Owen James Hart was a Canadian professional and amateur wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling , World Championship Wrestling , and most notably, the World Wrestling Federation , where he wrestled under both his own name, and ring name The...
. Other famous Dungeon graduates include "Superstar" Billy Graham, Greg Valentine
Greg Valentine
John Wisniski, Jr. is an American professional wrestler, better known as Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. He is the son of wrestler Johnny Valentine.-Training:...
, Bad News Allen, Davey Boy Smith
Davey Boy Smith
Davey Boy Smith was a British professional wrestler, better known as "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, who was born in Golborne in North West England, United Kingdom. Smith is known for his appearances with Stampede Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling...
, Brian Pillman
Brian Pillman
Brian William Pillman was an American football player and professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling....
, Jushin Liger
Jushin Liger
, better known as and later, is a Japanese professional wrestler who primarily works for New Japan Pro Wrestling.He has wrestled and beaten many of the top smaller wrestlers in both Japan and the United States, and is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most revolutionary junior...
, Ricky Fuji
Ricky Fuji
is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known under his ring name .-Professional wrestling career:Morimura started training in the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo in 1984. He then left Japan in January 1987 for a training expedition in Canada, where he was trained in the Dungeon by Stu Hart and...
, and Chris Benoit
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael "Chris" Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler whose career and life ended in a murder–suicide...
. Nattie Neidhart, daughter of Jim Neidhart
Jim Neidhart
James Henry "Jim" Neidhart is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Jim is the father of WWE Diva Natalya...
, granddaughter of Stu, was the first ever woman to train at the Dungeon.
In 1990, when Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho
Christopher Keith Irvine , better known by his ring name Chris Jericho, is an inactive Canadian-American professional wrestler, musician, songwriter, radio personality, television host, actor, author, and dancer...
and Lance Storm
Lance Storm
Lance Timothy Evers known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling...
enrolled at the Dungeon, Ed Langley and Brad Young conducted their training. At this point, Stu Hart was not involved and the trainers simply relied on a book of his teachings. Langley reportedly taught them how to take falls constantly from about 500-1,000 times during some sessions. When Jericho brought this information to the attention of Bret Hart, Bret responded that he didn't know the Hart training was still active. Jericho later expressed dissatisfaction over the three-month training course and felt that he and Storm had been snubbed by the Harts. Jericho elaborated that the only Hart they trained with was Keith
Keith Hart
Keith William Hart is a Canadian retired firefighter and professional wrestler. He is one of the sons of Stu Hart, CM.-Career:Before becoming a wrestler, Keith Hart earned a degree in teaching....
for merely their first day and that they were never invited to Hart shows or celebrations. Regarding the training, he commented, "Nothing against Keith as a person but as a business it was a ripoff." However, Jericho also noted that he trained with Stu later on.
One of the first televised acknowledgements, if not the first such acknowledgement, of the nickname "Dungeon" was by then WWF color commentator
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura
James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
. Its first significant exposure was in the documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows
Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows
Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows is a 1998 documentary film, written by Paul Jay, which follows World Wrestling Federation superstar Bret Hart during his last year in the WWF, from his WWF Championship victory at SummerSlam to his final match with the company at Survivor Series on November 9,...
. In it, the Dungeon was moderately filmed for the first time and Stu Hart is shown demonstrating wrestling holds on a pupil in severe pain. Bret also discusses the brutality his father would inflict on him and the morbid words Stu uttered as he tortured his teenage son. A bonus feature on Bret's DVD set also shows him discussing the Dungeon and its legendary status.
Various activities took place in the Dungeon, ranging from weight lifting
Weight training
Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the weight force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction...
to shoot wrestling
Shoot wrestling
Shoot wrestling is a combat sport that has its origins in Japan's professional wrestling circuit of the 1970s. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to utilize more realistic or "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement...
. Bret Hart has described the Dungeon in interviews as having holes in the walls and ceiling from bodies being driven into them. He also noted that practices could, at times, be as intense as MMA
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
styled fighting. In July 1998, the WWF filmed a match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock
Ken Shamrock
Kenneth Wayne Shamrock is an American mixed martial arts fighter, UFC Hall of Famer and professional wrestler...
in the Dungeon for the Fully Loaded pay-per-view. Leading up to the Hart House's sale in 2003, the Hart Brothers Training Camp still ran three times a week. A very similar training camp remains today at the family's gym, although none of the Hart brothers are involved. Students are, however, trained in the classic Dungeon style.
2003 sale
After the death of Stu Hart on October 18, 2003, the ten remaining Hart siblings were forced to make the difficult choice of putting the Hart mansion up for sale. It was in need of great restoration and held high property taxes, the likes of which the family couldn't afford. Stu Hart also instructed in his willWill (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
that his family not tear it down.
Prior to its sale, there was talk by the family of turning the house into a museum or bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
; however, this would likely have required zoning changes further diminishing the chances of securing protected status for the historic home. Alison Hart gave several tours of the home to guests before finally handing down ownership of the $2 million home. In June 2006, preservation plans for the mansion were defused in a tied 7-7 vote, leaving it susceptible to demolition. In October, however, a revised plan was authorized for thirteen townhouses to be built around the mansion as well as its restoration. Construction was stated to begin in summer 2007, but these plans were never implemented. As of spring 2010 the property was again for sale.